Ilibrary of congress. J 



I [SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT.] ^' 

'! UNITED STATES OF AMERICA | 



THE 



CHARACTER AND VALUE 



EYANGELICAL MINISTRY, 

AND THE 



DUTY OF THE CHURCH 

IN REGARD TO IT. 



-1/ 



BY 



REV. SIMEON wf^HARKEY, D. D. 

professor of STijcoIosa in Illinois <State SCnibfrsitij. 







PUBLISHED BY T. NEWTON KURTZ, 

No. 151 West Pr. att street. 
1853. 




Entered according to act of Congre^y^, in the year one thousand 
eight liundrcd and fifty-three, by T. Newton Kuktz, in the Clerk's 
Office of the District Court of Maryland. 



SOEEWOOD & Co., PRINTERS. 



PREFACE 



The writer of the following pages believes that 
the greatest want, as well as the greatest hope 
and the greatest blessing, of this country and of 
the world, is a faithful and well qualified Evan- 
gelical Ministry. So deeply is he convinced 
of this, that he has solemnly consecrated the re- 
mainder of his life, be it worth much or little, to 
the great work of increasing the number of true 
ministers of Christ. Alas ! that the importance of 
the subject should be so little seen and felt by the 
majority of Christians and even Christian minis- 
ters! More than eighteen hundred years have 
passed away since Christ gave the command, 
"Go ye into all the world and preach the Gos- 
pel to every creature," and still there are six hun- 
dred millions of heathens who are left to perish in 
their sins without a preached Gospel! And there 
is not a country upon the globe that is adequately 
supplied with a true and able ministry. Even in 
our own favored land there is an immense destitu- 
tion, especially in the newly and sparsely settled 
districts, and among the immigrant population. 



iv PREFACE. 

And how little are the self-denying and arduous 
labors of many of Christ's most faithful ministers 
appreciated ! How many of them are left to toil 
on amid poverty and neglect, half clothed and half 
fed ! I have in the following pages made a sin- 
cere and honest effort to call attention to the sub- 
ject. My object has been to do good — to stir up 
''the pure minds" of ministers and people "by 
way of remembrance," and to come to the help 
of my brethren who are bearing " the burden and 
heat of llic day" in the Master's vine3'ard. I 
have written in a plain style, that all classes may 
understand what they here read, while at the same 
time I trust the most intelligent Christians, and 
even Christian ministers, will not find this little 
work unworthy of their notice and perusal. 

I would commend the book to the attention ol' 
all Christians, and especially to my beloved breth- 
ren in the ministry, and hope that they may lind 
great benefit by circulating it freely among the 
people of their churches. And may Almighty 
God own and bless it in the production of much 
good, for the dear Redeemer's sake! Amen. 

S. W. HARKEY. 

SPRiNOFiEf-D, liJ,.. Oct, 22, 1852. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

CHARACTER AND QUALIFICATIONS OF THE 
MINISTRY. 

1. A minister must be a truly converted and deeply 
pious man — eminently a man of God 13 

2. He must be called of God. What a call to the min- 
istry is, and who are called? 15 

3. He must be ordained — regularly set apart by proper 
church authority. The solemn nature of ordination — 
it binds to ecclesiastical order. Sects and the sect 
spirit 19 

4. A minister must be an educated man. Objections to 
an educated ministry considered 34 

5. He must be evangelical. What is evangelical preach- 
ing? 45 

6. A minister must be sincere, humble, earnest, faithful, 
laborious, warm-hearted, prayerful, holy 51 

CHAPTER n. 

VALUE OF AN EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 

1. It is of immense pecuniary value. Enhances the 
value of all useful property — restrains and prevents 
vice — promotes law and order, and sustains all that is 

good* •••••«•, .*9««»«es«eeoe*»t>«9a>»«*«»».»««>57 



VI CONTENTS. 

2. It is of great value as a means of civilizing and refin- 
ing mankind. The Gospel alone by the grace of God 
can purify the heart, and without purity of heart there 
can be no true refinement 68 

3. It is of great intellectual value — as a means of educa- 
tion for the masses — open to all — and no truth equal 
lo Bible truth in enlightening, strengthening and ele- 
vating the intellectual faculties 76 

4. It is of great national value. The faithful preaching 
of the Gospel qualifies the people for self-government 
as well as teaches them their rights, and sustains law 
and order among all .89 

5. Finally, it is of great spiritual or religious value. 
God's appointed means for the spread of Christianity 
and the conversion of the world. The preaching of 
the Apostles and Reformers 98 



CHAPTER Iff. 

DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN REGARD TO THE 
MINISTRY. 

This duty is two-fold: — 1. Properly to appreciate and 
adequately to sustain the ministry now in the field of 
labor; 2. To provide a ministry sufficient in numbers 
and qualifications for the conversion of the world. Ill 

1. Ministry worthy of support — they are not beggars. 
Income of Lawyers — cost of Tobacco Ill 

2. Ministers must be highly esteemed, 1. as the Ambas- 
sadors of Christ — 2. as men — 3. so as not to deprive 
them of their rights — 4. so as to provide for their 
wants — 5. and all this for their work's sake 123 



CONTENTS. vii 

3. Who is to furnish this country and the world with a 
true ministry? Great destitution— immigrant popu- 
lation — value of German literature and German piety. 
Six hundred millions of perishing heathens 141 

CONCLUSION. 

An aS'ectionate appeal, addressed, l,to Ministers — 2, to 
Christians in general — 3, to Parents — 4, to Sunday school 
and other Teachers of youth — 5, to Young Men. . . .182 



THE VALUE 

OF A-S 

EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 



CHAPTER I. 

CHARACTER AND QUALIFICATIONS OF THE 
MINISTRY. 

The Gospel ministry is incomparably the 
most important trust ever committed to man. 
For, though all honest labor is honorable, 
and no calling, not even the most humble, to 
be despised, God has placed this at the head 
of all human employments. Other profes- 
sions and occupations have their value, but 
the sacred ministry exceeds them all as much 
as the interests of the soul and eternity do 
those of the body and of time. The farmer 
who cultivates the soil, the merchant who is 
engaged in an honest commerce or trade, the 
2 



10 



THE VALUE OF AN 



mechanic in all the various departments of 
human skill and industry, the sailor who 
navigates the wide ocean, and the day la- 
borer who literally gains his bread by "the 
sweat of his brow," are all most usefully and 
honorably employed: but the minister of 
Christ has an infinitely higher and holier 
work. He labors for the glory of God and 
the enlightenment and salvation of immortal 
souls. The office of the lawyer is important. 
It is his business to plead the cause of the 
injured and oppressed, and to see to it that 
justice be done between man and man; but 
the minister pleads the cause of the Son of 
God and his blood-bought Church, and la- 
bors that men may be saved from error and 
ruin, from the power, pollution and guilt of 
sin in time and eternity. The office of the 
statesman is important. Into his hands are 
committed the interests of the country — the 
peace, prosperity and happiness of states and 
nations ; but the minister is an ''ambassador 
for Christ, as though God did beseech men 
by him, he prays them in Christ's stead to 
be reconciled to God." The office of the 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 11 

physician is important. He has charge, to a 
certain extent, of the health and life of his 
fellow-men; but the minister is, under God, 
the physician of souls, and has charge of 
men's spiritual health and eternal life. 

What awful consequences result from a 
want of competency or faithfulness in a gos- 
pel minister! When the lawyer is incompe- 
tent or unfaithful, oppression and injustice 
will prevail; when the statesman is not quali- 
fied for his post, or neglects his duties, the 
commonwealth will suffer; when the physi- 
cian has no skill, or does not properly attend 
to his business, the health of his patients will 
not be recovered, or their life may be the for- 
feiture; but when the minister is unfaithful 
or incompetent, the interests of truth are be- 
trayed, religion is disgraced, the Church suf- 
fers and bleeds at every pore, souls perish, 
sin and the devil prevail, hell rejoices and 
heaven mourns. The quack in medicine 
wickedly sports with our dearest temporal in- 
terests — our life and health ; but the quack in 
the pulpit (a sight for angels to w^eep over !) 
sports with our immortal souls, w^ith heaven 



12 THE VALUE OF AN 

and hell, with the tears and blood of the Son 
of God. How carefully and seriously should 
every minister ponder the exhortation of the 
apostle Paul, 2 Tim. 2 : 15, '^ Study to show 
thyself approved unto God, a workman that 
needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing 
the word of truth." And well may the faith- 
ful servant of Christ exclaim, ^'Who is suffi- 
cient for these things!" 

*' 'Tis not a cause of small import 
The pastor's care demands; 
But what might fill an angePs heart, 
And filled the Saviour's hands." 



? 



Who then is a minister of Christ, and what 
character and qualifications does he possess? 
This is a grave and most important question, 
and yet might receive a brief and very em- 
phatic answer. Not every man is a minister 
who professes to be one, or wears the minis- 
terial garb. Many ''have stolen the livery 
of heaven to serve the devil in !" The min- 
ister is not an unconverted, immoral, inac- 
tive, ignorant, incompetent man ; but a true, 
holy, faithful, zealous, enlightened, godly 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 13 

person — a chosen servant of Christ, possess- 
ing the character and spirit of his Master. 

I. A minister must he a truly converted 
and devotedly pious man^ eminently a man of 
God. This is the first, highest, and most 
important qualification. It is altogether in- 
dispensable. Nothing can supply the want 
of this. Without deep personal piety all a 
minister's other qualifications and attainments, 
however brilliant, are comparatively useless. 
No extent of learning, no burning eloquence, 
no fiery zeal, are of much consequence with- 
out vital godliness. He who would lead 
sinners to Christ must first know Christ him- 
self — must have felt the power of religion in 
his own soul — must have been made experi- 
mentally acquainted with the plan of salva- 
tion through a crucified Redeemer. Love 
to the Saviour and the souls of men must 
have brought him into this office and must 
keep him in it. The Holy Ghost must have 
kindled this sacred flame in his heart, and 
much prayer and communion with God must 
keep it constantly and vigorously burning. 
Without this he can be but "a blind leader 
2* 



14 THE VALUE OF AN 

of the blind." He can neither properly un- 
derstand nor teach the holy Scriptures, be- 
cause an important part of Christianity can 
be known only by experience. In fact, he is 
an intruder, a usurper. He has no business 
in the ministry. God never called him, for 
he does not call unconverted men. 

He ought not only to be pious, but emi- 
nently so. He must have a high standard of 
Christian attainment. He ought to be in 
advance of all the members of his church in 
grace and holiness, because he is to be their 
head and leader. He must be an example 
to all, and be able to instruct and edify all, 
of every age, character and condition. He 
must be able to awaken sinners, reclaim 
wanderers, confound errorists, convince the 
skeptical, silence infidels, instruct the ignor- 
ant, relieve the doubting, direct the inquiring, 
encourage the desponding, comfort mourners, 
and lead the most advanced Christians to 
still higher attainments in the divine life. 
He must furnish '' milk for babes," as well 
as '^strong meat" for men. He must ^'feed 
the lambs," as well as edify and lead on the 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 15 

aged saint. In the pulpit, the Sabbath 
school, the catechetical class, the family cir- 
cle, the sick chamber, and at the dying bed 
— every where he must be at home, and able 
to instruct, warn, guide, and comfort. He 
must ''preach the word, be instant in sea- 
son, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, 
with all long-suffering and doctrine." 2 
Tim. 4 : 2. Now it must be perfectly clear 
that all this requires not only extensive learn- 
ing, a thorough acquaintance w4th human 
nature, and much skill, but that it requires 
especially eminent piety, high attainments in 
grace and holiness, a profound experimental 
knowledge of spiritual religion and the deep 
things of God, and the constant influence 
and teaching of the Holy Spirit. 

2. The true minister must he called of God. 
The ministry is of divine appointment, ''And 
no man taketht his honor unto himself, but 
he that is called of God, as was Aaron." 
Heb. 5 : 4. The Saviour instituted this 
office, and its first incumbents were selected 
by himself, and he must still fill up its ranks 
if we are to have the right kind of men in it. 



16 THE VALUE OF AN 

It IS still true that " God makes ministers." 
Hence the command of Christ to us is, when 
we see ^4he harvest plenteous and the la- 
borers few," ^^pray ye therefore the Lord of 
the harvest that he will send forth laborers 
into his harvest." Matt. 9 : 38. Now this 
call of God is of two kinds; the one imme- 
diate or miraculous, and the other mediate or 
ordinary. The ancient prophets and apos- 
tles were called and qualified for their work 
in the former manner, of which the case of 
Paul is a striking example. He was miracu- 
lously called. But as the days of miracles 
in the Church are past, we have no right to 
expect such calls now. God has established 
a regular mode of perpetuating and filling up 
the ranks of the ministry, and men are now 
called only in the mediate or ordinary way. 
When God has appointed means for the ac- 
complishment of an end, he always works by 
those means. But it will be asked, what 
constitutes a call to the ministry at the pres- 
ent day'? I answer, four things. First, 
undoubted personal piety, producing ardent 
love to Christ and the souls of men. Sec- 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 17 

ondly, an inward abiding conviction that it is 
our duty to serve God in this office^ and a 
willingness to endure its labors ^ toils and dif- 
ficulties^ not from any expectation of temporal 
reward or emolument^ but for Chrisfs sake. 
A strong sense of duty, so that we are led to 
exclaim with Paul, '^ For necessity is laid 
upon me; yea, woe is unto me if I preach not 
the Gospel." 1 Cor. 9:16. A willingness 
"to forsake all and follow Christ" in this 
work — a readiness to go to the ignorant, the 
destitute and neglected, or even to the be- 
nighted and degraded heathen with messages 
of salvation. The pious man who feels an 
inward conviction and desire of this sort 
ought to regard it as a strong evidence that 
God has called him to the ministry. Thirdly, 
the possession of a healthy body^ and at least 
ordinary mental abilities. Men of feeble 
constitutions and sickly bodies cannot endure 
the labors of the ministry, and rare indeed 
are the eases in which such should seek the 
office. And while I would not say that 
every minister must of necessity be a "tal- 
ented man," in the popular sense, I do le- 



18 THE VALUE OF AN 

gard it as indispensable that he should pos- 
sess good common sense and ordinary pow- 
ers of mind. He ought to have a certain 
'' aptness to teach," or at least the ability, 
by a proper course of education, to become 
an agreeable speaker and an apt teacher. 
In a word, what we here insist upon is, 
Mens Sana in corpore sano^ as the Latin pro- 
verb has it — ''a sound mind in a healthy 
body." Fourthly, the indications of Divine 
Providence that it is our duty to devote our- 
selves to this work. When God calls a man 
to this office there will always be some signs 
by which his will is indicated in the matter, 
and he who devoutly prays, ''Lord, what 
w^ilt thou have me to do," will not fail to see 
them. Difficulties will be removed, and the 
w^ay opened in a manner that is often truly 
wonderful. 

Let me add here, that whilst I believe that 
many a man has entered the ministry un- 
called, I am also persuaded that there have 
been and are hundreds, and even thousands, 
w^ho do not heed the divine call. Multitudes 
are called to repentance and salvation w^ho 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 19 

do not repent and believe; and so many are 
called to preach the Gospel who disobey the 
Almighty. The difficulty is, that the bold 
and self-important are apt to thrust them- 
selves forward, while the diffident and worthy 
are often kept back. Many wrong notions 
too are prevalent upon the subject.' Under 
the impression that ministers are called of 
God, some are waiting to hear a voice from 
the skies before they "wiW obey ! This little 
volume will probably fall into the hands of 
many a young man whose solemn duty it is 
to serve God in the ministry. Young man ! 
how will you answer the Lord for this ne- 
glect of your duty? How can you sleep 
with the cries of the destitute and perishing 
ringing in your ears ? Remember that you 
will meet the souls of those who ^^ perish for 
lack of knowledge " at the judgment day, 
when you might have been instrumental in 
saving them from endless ruin. Will not 
their blood be found in your skirts ? May 
God stir up your heart and conscience to 
duty. 

3. A minister must be ordained or regu- 



20 THE VALUE OF AN 

larly set apart to the work by jyroper church 
authority. This may indeed be considered 
as a necessary part of his '' call," and no 
man has a scriptural right to exercise the 
functions of the ministry who has not been 
regularly and legally ordained. The teach- 
ing of the Bible on this subject appears to 
me to be very clear and full. Christ did not 
give indiscriminate authority to all his disci- 
ples to go forth to preach his Gospel and 
administer the ordinances of his religion. 
He selected his apostles, carefully instructed 
them for three years, and set them apart to 
this work. He gave them authority which 
he did not give to other believers. And the 
Saviour plainly tells us, ''Verily, verily, I say 
unto you, he that entereth not by the door 
into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some 
other way, the same is a thief and a robber." 
John 10 : 1. However men may differ as to 
the form of Church government, or the proper 
authority to ordain ministers, whether by a 
bishop, or as in apostolic days, '' with the 
laying on of the hands of the presbytery," (1 
Tim. 4 : 14,) there is a general agreement 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 21 

that they must be regularly set apart or con- 
secrated to this office ; otherwise they ^' enter 
not by the door into the sheepfold," but 
climbing up some other way they are "thieves 
and robbers." It is equally evident that the 
apostles did not give a general license to 
every person to go forth as a preacher of the 
Gospel ; but they '^ ordained elders in every 
city," selected and set apart particular indi- 
viduals to this work. Paul gives special 
directions to his son Timothy on this subject: 
" And the things that thou hast heard of me 
among many witnesses, the same commit 
thou to faithful men, who shall be able to 
teach others also." 2 Tim. 2 : 2. But I 
deem it unnecessary to argue this point, as it 
is very plain, and is, I think, generally ad- 
mitted. Nor is it any part of my plan to 
enter here into the much controverted ques- 
tion of episcopal or presbyterial ordination. 
It does, however, belong to the design of 
these pages to offer a few remarks on the 
solemn nature and binding obligations of an 
ordination to this sacred office. On this 
point there is much that is wrong and greatly 
3 



22 THE VALUE OF AN 

to be lamented in practice at the present day. 
Men abandon the ministry, or give but little 
attention to it, and engage in some secular 
employment for light and trifling reasons, 
just as if their ordination vows meant no- 
thing : and others separate themselves from 
the body of Christians to whom they were so 
solemnly bound, and " set up for them- 
selves," just as if they had a right to do so, 
or there were no sin in schism or the 
creation of new sects. 

Now it does appear to me that when a 
man has declared himself called of God to 
the work of the ministry, and has been sa- 
credly devoted to it by the imposition of 
hands and prayer — has voluntarily taken 
upon himself the awful vow^s of ordination, 
unless there should be some marked pro- 
vidential interference, he cannot draw back 
or separate himself from his brethren with- 
out GREAT GUILT. In all Ordinary cases 
our ordination ought to be considered as 
separating us from the world, and binding us 
to this w^ork of God for life. Surely in this 
solemn transaction we were not set apart to 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 23 

be farmers, mechanics, politicians, trades- 
men, or something else, but ministers of 
Christ, and if we feel right we must feel 
with the apostle that ''necessity is laid upon 
us; yea, that woe is unto us if we preach not 
the Gospel." 1 Cor. 9 : 16. Nothing but 
sickness, or some other insuperable difficulty, 
can discharge us from these obligations. 
We are required to '' give ourselves wholly" 
to this work, and he who, for any insufficient 
reason, abandons it, or attends to it but im- 
perfectly, betrays the cause, violates his 
ordination vows, and becomes a " covenant- 
breaker" in the sight of God. And St. Paul 
puts covenant-breakers with the worst classes 
of mankind. Rom. 1: 29-31. 

So, too, it is evident that ordination binds 
a man to ecclesiastical order. He is not per- 
mitted to foment strife or divisions among 
his brethren, or to separate himself from 
them and commence a new sect. The man 
who does so, not only breaks his covenant, 
but is also a schismatic, and can hardly claim 
to be still a true minister of Christ. I regard 
this as a most serious matter. "Now I 



24 THE VALUE OF AN 

beseech you, brethren," says the apostle, 
^^mark them which cause divisions and 
offences contrary to the doctrine which ye 
have learned ; and avoid them. For they 
that are such serve not our Lord Jesus 
Christ, but their own belly; and by good 
words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of 
the simple." Rom. 16 : 17, 18. And again 
he says, '' Now we command you, brethren, 
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that 
ye withdraw yourselves from every brother 
that walketh disorderly, and not after the tra- 
dition which ye received of us " 2 Thess. 
3 : 6. In view of these facts, what shall we 
say of the disposition to multiply religious 
sects which has so abundantly manifested it- 
self in these latter days? Or rather, what 
shall we say oftheir originators and founders? 
Now I have no desire to write a single word 
which shall wound any man or class of men, 
and yet the truth of God must not, dare not, 
from any consideration, be compromised. 
In pleading for an evangelical ministry I feel 
bound to expose and reprove what is un- 
scriptural and irregular in this matter, and I 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 25 

do therefore enter my most solemn protest 
against the sect spirit which has become so 
rife in our country. Here we have a multi- 
tude of litde sects of recent origin, who, for 
light and trifling reasons, have broken off 
from the regular evangelical churches of the 
Reformation, and are filling up the land with 
men called ministers of Christ, who are 
mostly uneducated, and in nearly every re- 
spect unqualified for the holy office, and who 
are dividing and distracting hundreds of con- 
gregations and neighborhoods, and causing 
offences contrary to the Gospel of Christ. 
Instead of going to the destitute or the 
heathen, these men usually carry on a kind 
of Indian warfare upon the outposts of other 
churches, and expend their superabundant 
zeal in efforts to proselyte the weak and less 
informed. Precisely answering to the de- 
scription of Paul, they do ''by good words 
and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the 
simple. ^^ It is not, however, their irregu- 
larities, proselytism and fanaticism that I 
design here specially to notice, but their 
origin and ecclesiastical foundation. These 
3* 



26 THE VALUE OF AN 

I believe to be irregular, unsound and un- 
scriptural. How have the sects which have 
so numerously sprung up in our American 
churches during the last half century or more 
originated? Mostly in something like the 
following manner. Mr. Newlight (to use a 
fictitious name) is a regular minister of one 
of the churches of the Reformation. In this 
church he has probably been born, educated, 
converted to God, and solemnly ordained to 
the holy ministry. For a while he preaches 
the Gospel with fidelity and zeal in the 
church of his fathers, but by and by he fan- 
cies that he has made some new discoveries 
in doctrines or ecclesiastical polity, and that 
he is called to the work of a great reformer 
in the world ! Or he thinks that he has 
more zeal and piety than his brethren, and 
that some new measures must be introduced 
to arouse the church out of its dead and for- 
mal state. He now begins to introduce 
some of his novelties and make a show of 
his zeal and piety, but soon finds that his 
brethren do not all agree with him, that they 
are slow to come into his measures, and per- 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 27 

haps, in certain quarters, he meets with some 
opposition, or has even to suffer a little per- 
secution. Well, what does he do now? 
Why, finding that he cannot reform his own 
church, according to his own notions, right 
away, he breaks loose from his present con- 
nections, "sets up for himself," and starts 
out to take all other churches, and the world, 
too, by storm! He soon gets a few fol- 
lowers around him, (for any man can get 
followers,) and he forms a new sect! And 
now the people begin to call his party by his 
own name, and the thing makes some noise, 
and for a while spreads like wild-fire^ In 
the meantime converts multiply, and more 
preachers are needed to disseminate the new 
doctrines and build up the new sect. Mr. 
New^light now calls a convention of his fol- 
lowers, and a dozen or two of the most bold 
and self-conceited present themselves, ready 
for ordination as preachers, and he lays his 
hands upon whomsoever he can, and sends 
them forth. Soon the country around swarms 
with these men, and they make a wonderful 
stir! They now begin to rail out fiercely 



THE VALUE OF AN 

against ''college-bred ministers" and ''money 
preachers," and thank God that they are not 
as these other men ! The mean business of 
distracting churches and proselyting the weak 
and ignorant now commences in good earnest. 
These people soon discover that it is not best 
that their sect should bear the name of their 
founder, as he may be a very obscure indi- 
vidual, and hence they try to cover up their 
ecclesiastical nakedness and deformity by 
assuming some beautiful scriptural name: 
they call themselves the "Church of God," 
or the " Disciples of Christ," or something 
else of this kind. Now, in the name of God 
I ask. are we to regard all these proceedings 
as right and proper? Must we give these 
men the hand of fellowship, and receive 
them as the ministers of Christ? Have they 
walked, and do they walk orderly? And 
does not Paul say, "Now we command you, 
brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from 
every brother that walketh disorderly?" 
What right had Mr. Newlight and his 
friends, on Bible ground, to separate them- 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 29 

selves from their brethren and commence a 
new sect? I deny that he had any such 
right. God never gave him or any other 
man any such authority. I consider that he 
acted in violation of his ordination vows — 
that he and his friends erred in this matter, 
erred greatly, grievously — that the whole 
proceeding was irregular and disorderly — that 
he is a schismatic in the true scriptural sense, 
and the church or denomination thus founded 
is schismatical. Its ecclesiastical foundation 
is utterly rotten. It is against such that 
Paul speaks in the passage already quoted, 
Rom. 16 : 17, 18. If Mr. Newlight had a 
right to separate himself from the Church in 
which he was reared, in which the truth as it 
is in Jesus is still held and believed, souls 
are still converted and saved, and men are 
still permitted freely to preach and confess 
Christ crucified — if he had a right to leave 
such a church and commence a new sect, 
then surely the same right must be conceded 
to every other minister, and even to every 
layman who thinks that he possesses more 
light and more nietv than his brethren ! 



30 THE VALUE OF AN 

And what must be the inevitable result? 
What would become of the Church and of 
Christianity? Would it not be torn into a 
thousand fragments, according to the differ- 
ent whims and notions of men? Would 
not, in fact, the Church of Christ be utterly 
destroyed, and Christianity wounded, yea, 
murdered in the house of its friends ? Is it 
any wonder then that the apostle should re- 
present this sect spirit as so great an evil, and 
declare that such men '' serve not our Lord 
Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by 
good words and fair speeches deceive the 
hearts of the simple?" Nothing can be 
clearer than that men possess no such right. 
He gave no authority to his apostles to go 
forth and establish one a church of Matthew, 
another that of Peter, a third that of John, 
and a fourth that of Paul! No; but what do 
these apostles themselves declare? Says 
Matthew, '' One is your Master, even Christ, 
and all ye are brethren." Matt. 23 : 8. 
And John 17 : 21, tells us that Christ prayed 
'' that they all may be one ; as thou. Father, 
art in me, and I in thee, that they also may 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 31 

be one in us : that the world may believe that 
thou hast sent me." And hear, especially, 
the apostle Paul: ''Now this I say, that 
every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I 
of ApoUos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. 
Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for 
you ? or were ye baptized in the name of 
Paul?" 1 Cor. 1 : 12, 13. What a rebuke 
is here administered to this sect spirit ! 

The plea that some of these schismatics 
set up, that the Church with which they 
were connected had become too cold and 
formal, will not avail : because, if they really 
had so much more light, piety and zeal, they 
ought to have remained until the whole mass 
of their brethren had become leavened ; '' for 
a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." 
Why not stay and '' let their light so shine 
before men, that they might see their good 
works, and glorify our Father which is in 
heaven?" Matt. 5 : 16. Why "remove 
the candlestick out of his place ?" Why go 
out and commence a new society, adding 
another to the number of sects, and causing 
strife and division in so many congregations 



32 THE VALUE OF AN 

and families? What if they should have 
had to meet opposition and suffer a little 
persecution in their efforts to elevate the 
standard of piety in the church which they 
say was cold and dead? Would this not 
have been a blessed and glorious work, and 
must not persecution and opposition be en- 
countered every where in the faithful dis- 
charge of Christian duty ? We are plainly 
told that " all that will live godly in Christ 
Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2 Tim. 3: 
12. But it is said these men do some good 
— souls are converted through their instru- 
mentality. I reply that this is the doctrine 
of Romanists, ''that the end justifies the 
means!" And are these apologists prepared 
to act upon the principle, ''let us do evil 
that good may come ?" God may and often 
does bring good out of evil, and so "makes 
the wrath of man to praise him," but this 
does not justify the evil. The only question, 
therefore, is, are the proceedings here re- 
ferred to irregular and unscriptural ? This I 
think is very clear, and hence ihey must be 
condemned and rejected. The same plea 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 33 

might have been made in the days of Paul. 
Doubtless some of those men who '^ walked 
disorderly," and " caused divisions and of- 
fences," did some good — they may have 
professed a great deal of zeal and piety, too ; 
and yet the apostle declares that they "serve 
not our Lord Jesus Christ," and would have 
no fellowship with them. After all, they 
will in the end do a great deal more harm 
than good. The divisions and distractions, 
the quarreling and fighting among professed 
Christians, caused by this sect spirit, are 
most disastrous in their effects upon the true 
interests of Christianity. The weapons and 
energies of Christians designed to be em- 
ployed against the common enemy are used 
in opposing each other — the church and re- 
ligion are disgraced — the power of the Gos- 
pel is neutralized — thousands are driven into 
infidelity — the Spirit of God is grieved away 
— and true piety greatly declines. 

I cannot, therefore, do less than solemnly 
to protest against these schismatical proceed- 
ings — this multiplying of sects, and constitu- 
ting churches, and appointing ministers, in 
4 



34 THE VALUE OF AN 

this disorderly way. They are all wrong. 
Not only is there no scriptural foundation for 
them, but they are utterly contrary to the 
letter and spirit of the New Testament. 

4. A minister of Christ ought to be an 
educated man. This is a self-evident propo- 
sition, and should require no defence. The 
minister is a public teacher of religion, and 
must be able to instruct, not only the ignor- 
ant and simple-minded, but the best educated 
and most intelligent of his hearers. How 
can he do this without a thorough knowledge 
of what he is to teach ? How can he refute 
the infidel, silence the objector, convince the 
errorist, expound the Scriptures, and explain 
Christianity to the people, unless he has 
thoroughly studied the subjects himself? 
Men never think of employing an uneduca- 
ted man to teach any human science or art, 
and why should an ignorant minister be ex- 
pected to be able to preach the Gospel ? — to 
explain the Bible, and teach the science of 
all sciences? When the Saviour selected 
his apostles, it is true he took plain men, 
whose literary attainments were limited; but 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 35 

it is not true that he sent them forth without 
thorough instruction. For three years they 
studied theology with him who ''spake as 
never man spake," and then they were in- 
spired by the Holy Ghost, and enabled to 
speak languages which they had never 
learned, and were endowed w^ith other mirac- 
ulous powers. And when a man was to 
be appointed to be the apostle of the Gen- 
tiles, the Lord himself selected Paul, one of 
the most learned men of his age and nation. 
The Scriptures are plain on this point. 
^'For the priest's lips should keep knowl- 
edge, and they (the people) should seek the 
law at his mouth : for he is the messenger of 
the Lord of hosts." Mai. 2 : 7. And Tim- 
othy was to commit the things which he had 
heard of Paul to "faithful men, who should 

BE ABLE TO TEACH OTHERS ALSO." 2 Tim. 

2 : 2. And again, in the fifteenth verse of 
the same chapter, Paul addresses him in this 
language, '' Study to show thyself approved 
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be 
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.'' 
But it is impossible that an ignorant man 



36 THE VALUE OF AN 

should be '^ able to teach others," and 
'^rightly to divide the word of truth, so that 
he needeth not to be ashamed." 

But, notwithstanding these plain Bible 
facts, there have been not a few who advo- 
cated an uneducated ministry, or at least 
apologized for it! Men could be found who 
boasted in the pulpit that ''they had never 
rubbed their heads against the walls of a col- 
lege or theological seminary^" It is true 
that they had no occasion to tell this, for the 
people usually found out the secret before 
they made it known ! It is to be hoped that 
^' the times of this ignorance" have passed 
away for ever. The churches can no longer 
use such men, and the Christian public w^ill 
no longer endure ignorance in the sacred 
desk. 

Men who opposed an educated ministry 
usually did so for three principal reasons : 
first, that education w^as unfavorable to relig- 
ion — that it fostered pride and tended to infi- 
delity; secondly, that it made the ministry a 
mere profession or trade to be acquired by 
study ; and thirdly., that education was unne- 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 37 

cessary for a minister — that if he was called 
of God he would be able to preach v^ithout 
study or preparation — that the Holy Ghost 
would teach him what to say at the time 
he needed it. But surely it is not necessary 
that I should seriously set about answ^ering 
these objections, since they are all founded 
on a misunderstanding and a misapprehen- 
sion of the facts in the case. I w^ill therefore 
simply endeavor, in a few words, to set the 
matter in its true light. 

And first, it is not true that education or 
knowledge is opposed to or destructive of 
religion. I know, indeed, that there are 
educated men who are unconverted — who 
are wicked and infidels : but this proves 
nothing more than that education alone will 
not make men Christians — that knowledge is 
not godliness. But are there not also wicked 
men and infidels among the ignorant? Is it 
not here that we find the greatest and most 
brutish depravity? And on the contrary, 
have not many of the most learned men that 
have ever lived been eminent Christians? 
Were not Moses, Isaiah and Paul such? 
4^ 



38 THE VALUE OF AN 

And Luther, Melancthon and Calvin ? And 
Lock, Bacon and Newton? And Wesley, 
Edwards and Payson ? Indeed, it would re- 
quire a volume simply to record the names 
of such men. It is true, also, that there 
have been sciences, falsely so called, which 
have been set against Christianity. But this 
has been the result, not of true knowledge or 
real science, but of error or the want of true 
knowledge. Religion and true science never 
can be in opposition to each other, because 
God is the author of both, and he cannot 
contradict himself All truth is from God 
and is harmonious, whether taught in nature 
or in the Bible. Hence there ever is and 
must be a perfect agreement between the 
teachings of real science and true religion. 
Science is the handmaid of reli^rion. 

And as to the idea that knowledge fosters 
pride or puffs up with vanity, this too is a 
mistake. Some of the most learned men I 
ever knew were among the humblest, and 
some of the proudest were very ignorant. 
True knowledge always tends to humility; 
but those who have but a little, a mere smat- 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 39 

tering, not enough to enable them to under- 
stand their own ignorance, are apt to be filled 
with self-conceit and vanity. It is to such 
that the language of the poet applies : 

** A little learning is a dangerous thing ! 
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring ; 
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, 
And drinking largely sobers us again." 

A thorough education, so far from making a 
man proud, must humble him, because it 
shows him what he is and how little he 
knows. Set it down as an infallible rule, 
that when you see a proud, upstart, foppish 
minister, too stiff and starched to bend with- 
out breaking, who seeks to make a display 
of his learning by quoting Latin and Greek 
in the pulpit, and using language which the 
people cannot understand, and who is all the 
time ballooning it up in the heavens — set it 
down, I say, that he wants either brains or 
education, or both. He has neither sense in 
his head nor grace in his heart. A man of 
real mind and attainments never acts in this 
way. 

Equally unfounded is the other objection. 



40 THE VALUE OF AN 

that education makes the ministry a mere 
profession or trade to be acquired by study. 
I admit that unconverted and unworthy men 
have at times found their way into the holy 
office, and pursued it as a mere trade or pro- 
fession; but I deny that such intruders have 
mostly been persons of regular education. 
Just the contrary, I think, is the fact. Our 
country, especially in the newer settlements, 
ever has been infested and cursed by design- 
ing, ignorant impostors, who shrunk from 
the light, and disgraced the very name of 
minister. It is not education, but the want 
of it, that has lowered the character of the 
ministry in the United States. Of course, I 
do not plead for unsanctified learning, or 
knowledge without piety. On the contrary, 
I have already endeavored to show the indis- 
pensable necessity of deep personal piety in 
the ministers of Christ; but I utterly deny 
that education of the right kind has a ten- 
dency to fill the church with unconverted 
preachers. A learned man will feel the ne- 
cessity of the divine assistance ifi preaching 
more than an ignorant one ; and having en- 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 41 

(leavored to aid himself properly, he will have 
more of that assistance. I agree with Dr. 
South, that '' the way to debase ministers 
and the ministry is to admit into it ignorant, 
sordid, and illiterate persons. This is to 
give the royal stamp to a piece of lead. I 
confess God has no need of any man's parts 
or learning ; but certainly, then, he has no 
need of his ignorance and ill behaviour. ^ ^ * 
The preferring undeserving persons to this 
great service was eminently Jeroboam's sin ; 
and how Jeroboam's practice and offence has 
been continued amongst us in another guise, 
is not unknown ; for has not learning unqual- 
ified men for approbation to the ministry ? 
Have not education and abilities been re- 
puted enemies to grace, and qualities no 
ways ministerial 5^ While friends, faction, 
well meaning and little understanding, have 
been accomplishments beyond study and the 
university ! * * * Hence it was that many ig- 
norant men rushed into the ministry, as being 
the only calling they could profess without 
serving an apprenticeship. Hence, also, we 
had those who could preach sermons, but 



42 THE VALUE OF AN 

not defend them. The reason of which is 
clear, because the works and writings of 
learned men might be borrowed, but not 
their abilities. Had, indeed, the old Leviti- 
cal hierarchy still continued, in which it was 
part of the ministerial office to flay the sacri- 
fices, to cleanse the vessels, to scour the 
flesh-forks, to sweep the temple, and carry 
the filth and rubbish to the brook Kedron, no 
persons living had been fitter for the ministry, 
and to serve in this nature at the altar. But 
since it is made a labor of the mind, as to 
inform men's judgments, and move their 
affections, to resolve difficult places of Scrip- 
ture, to decide and clear off controversies, I 
cannot see how to be a butcher, scavenger, 
or any other such trade, does at all qualify 
or prepare men for this work. But unfit as 
they w^ere, yet to clear a way for such into 
the ministry, we have had multitudes of ser- 
mons full of gibes and scoffs at human learn- 
ing. The ignorant have taken to heart to 
venture upon this great calling, and instead 
of cutting their way to it, according to the 
usual course, through the knowledge of the 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 43 

languages, the study of the original Scrip- 
tures, of philosophy, divinity and history, 
they have taken another and shorter cut, and 
having read a few little works on practical 
piety, the usual furniture of old women's 
closets, they have set forth as accomplished 
^divines, and forthwith presented themselves 
to the service ; and there have not been 
wanting Jeroboams as willing to consecrate 
and receive them, as they to offer themselves. 
And this has been one of the mOvSt fatal, and 
almost irrecoverable blows that have been 
given to the ministry," South's Sermons, 
vol. 1, p. 67. 

An answer to the third objection to an 
educated ministry has already in part been 
given, namely, that it is unnecessary, that if 
a man is called of God the Holy Ghost will 
enable him to preach without education, 
study, or previous preparation. This objec- 
tion, I need hardly say, is founded in error. 
Men are not now inspired^ as were the apos- 
tles. The Holy Ghost will not make up for 
any man's natural weakness, ignorance or 
laziness. It is blasphemous to say or try to 



4i THE VALUE OF AN 

make people believe that he will. When 
God has appointed means for the accom- 
plishment of a certain work or end, it is an 
insult to ask or expect him to set aside those 
means, and to do the work by miracle. I 
cannot see how an ignorant or lazy minister 
can dare to ask God to help him preach, 
when he has not first tried to help himself in 
the appointed way. I will here quote a few 
sentences from the sainted Baxter, than 
whom few abler, holier, or more successful 
ministers have ever lived. His opinions on 
this subject ought to have great weight. 
'' Do not reason and conscience tell you," 
says he in his Reformed Pastor, '4hat if you 
dare venture on so high a work as this, you 
should spare no pains to be fit for the per- 
formance of it ? It is not now and then an 
idle taste of studies that will serve to make 
an able divine. I know that laziness has 
learned to argue, from the insuflScieney of all 
our studies, that the Spirit must wholly and 
alone qualify us for, and assist us in our 
work. But can we reasonably think that 
God, having commanded us to use the 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 45 

means, would warrant us to neglect them? 
Will he cause us to thrive in a course of idle- 
ness ? Or bring us to knowledge by dreams? 
Or take us up to heaven and show us his 
counsels, while we are unconcerned about 
the matter? Strange ! that men should dare 
by their sinful laziness thus to ' quench the 
Spirit.' God has required of us that we be 
^ not slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, 
serving the Lord.' Therefore, brethren, lose 
no time : study, pray, discourse and practice, 
that by these means your abilities may be 
increased." 

5. The Christian minister must he evan- 
gelical, I mean by this, in the first place, 
that he must be orthodox^ sound in the faith. 
Not an Infidel, a Romanist, a Puseyite ; not 
a Rationalist, a Unitarian, a Universalist; 
but a man who believes and preaches from 
his heart all the great fundamental doctrines 
of the Christian system. Among these are 
the inspiration and divine authority of the 
Holy Scriptures, the fall and depravity of the 
human race, the divinity and atonement of 
Jesus Christ, regeneration by the Holy Ghost 
5 



46 THE VALUE OF AN 

through the means of grace, the necessity of 
repentance towards and faith in our Lord 
Jesus Christ, justification by faith, and a 
holy life and good works as the fruits of 
faith, and the eternity of future rewards and 
punishments. There are other associated 
doctrines, of equal importance, belonging to 
this system, which I need not specify, as 
they are implied. I am sufficiently under- 
stood when I say I mean a man who cor- 
dially receives the grand system of truth 
which is held and believed by the great body 
of evangelical Christians throughout the 
world. 

I mean, in the second place, by the term 
evangelical to designate a minister who is 
not a bigoted sectarian^ blindly and obsti- 
nately attached to certain modes and forms 
and non-essential points, so that he can see 
no good any where else, and is all the while 
hampered and crippled by his narrow-minded 
and exclusive notions. Not such a man. 
But I would have the minister be a man of 
such enlarged and noble heart and liberal 
yiews as to be able to see and acknowledge 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 47 

the work of God wherever found, and to co- 
operate with . other good men in the great 
efforts for the world's conversion. I would 
have him so deeply imbued with the spirit of 
his divine Master, so grounded and settled 
m fundamental truth, so pervaded by its vital 
power, so baptized with the Holy Ghost, so 
constantly and earnestly engaged in the work 
of saving souls and pushing forward the tri- 
umphal car of the Redeemer, as to have 
neither time nor inclination " to strive about 
words to no profit," or to engage in theologi- 
cal and metaphysical hair-splitting, and in 
quarreling and fighting about modes and 
forms and non-essential points of doctrine. 
In the third place, by the term evangelical 

1 wish to characterize the style of a minis- 
ter's preaching. How must he preach, and 
what ? From the heart, " as a dying man to 
dying men," in view of the great judgment 
day. He must ^' preach the word, be instant 
in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, 
exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine." 

2 Tim. 4:2. He must preach the word, 
the whole word, and nothing but the word of 



48 THE VALUE OF AN 

God. The Gospel, not rhetoric, philosophy 
and moral essays; not incomprehensible met- 
aphysics and scholastic subtleties; not human 
creeds and sectarian dogmas; not ''foolish 
questions" and angry controversies; not 
cold, lifeless, heartless homilies; he must not 
starve the souls of the people on these husks; 
but he must preach the Gospel, warm, pure 
and holy, as it came from heaven. He must 
hold forth ''Christ and him crucified" as the 
centre and substance of the law and the Gos- 
pel, as the sun of the whole system of divine 
truth. All his sermons must be radiant with 
the glory which beams from the cross, and 
then he will be an evangelical preacher, and 
cannot fail to win souls to Christ. Then his 
"thoughts will glow, and his words will 
burn," and sinners will be converted. And 
he must be unwearied in this work — " in 
season, out of season " — seize favorable 
times and opportunities when they present 
themselves, and when none such present 
themselves take unfavorable ones. He must 
preach on the Sabbath and in the week, in 
the pulpit and " from house to house," and 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 49 

by precept and example. He must preach 
plainly and simply, so that all his hearers, 
even those of least capacity, may understand 
him, and then he will be certain also to in- 
struct and edify the more intelligent. His 
sermons must be practical^ not long, dry, 
cold, soul-starving, doctrinal discussions, on 
the one hand ; nor mere ranting declamation, 
or frothy, furious exhortation, on the other ; 
but the deep and solid truths of the Bible, 
the marrow of the Gospel, in a practical 
manner. He must expound the Scriptures, 
unfold and bring out, in their proper time 
and order, all the grand and glorious doc- 
trines of Christianity, and thus enlighten the 
understanding and convince the judgment, 
and then seek to touch the conscience, elec- 
trify the passions, and powerfully to move 
the heart. Let him dip the arrows of his 
quiver in the blood of the Lamb, and then, 
taking sure aim, earnestly beseech God for 
the aid of the Holy Spirit, and he will preach 
with demonstration and power. He must be 
faithful — keep back no part of the truth from 
fear, favor, or regard to men's opinions and 
5* 



50 THE VALUE OF AN 

wishes ; but preach the law and the Gospel 
just as they are. He must add nothing, and 
subtract nothing. No part must be cast into 
the shade because another is more pleasant 
and he prefers it, or by presenting one side 
of a subject to the neglect of the other of I 
equal or greater importance. Let him not (I 
smooth down the bold and prominent features 
of the word, or wreathe the keen edge of 
" the sword of the Spirit" with the flowers 
of the imagination, so that it can do no exe- 
cution, or mollify the wounds which it has 
made in the sinner's heart with the oil of 
rhetoric, so that they shall not smart and 
bleed ; and on the contrary, let him make no 
rough places where the Gospel is smooth, 
and inflict no wounds where it is designed to 
heal. When he stands upon blazing Sinai, 
let its thunders roll, its lightnings flash, and 
the blasts of its awful trumpet strike terror 
into every guilty soul ; but when he ascends 
Calvary, let the notes be sweet and melting, 
as those that tremble on angelic harps. In 
a word, let him always remember that he is 
an ^' ambassador for Christ," a messenger of 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 51 

God to men, and so preach each sermon, as 
if it were his last before meeting his hearers 
at the judgment bar. Such is an evangelical 
preacher. 

There are other qualifications which the 
minister of Christ must possess, upon which 
I deem it unnecessary to dwell here. They 
are connected with and grow out of those 
which have already been enumerated, and 
besides it is not my object to write a treatise 
on the character of the ministry, but rather 
to endeavor to show its value. He must be 
a sincere J humble^ earnest^ faithful^ laboriousy 
warm-heartedj prayerful^ holy man. He 
must have the spirit of his Lord and Master, 
whom he must seek to imitate. He must be 
wise to win souls — ''wise as a serpent and 
harmless as a dove." The object of his life 
must not be worldly gain — wealth, ease, 
comfort, honor, or applause of men; but the 
glory of God in the regeneration, enlighten- 
ment and sanctification of his hearers. He 
must be a true man^ a true Christian man — 
not a hypocrite, not a dissembler, not pretend- 
ing to be the friend of the people and con- 



52 THE VALUE OF AN 

cerned for the salvation of their souls, when in 
reality he is not ; not attending to the solemn 
duties of his sacred calling as a mere matter 
of duty; but his heart must be in his work, 
and the people must see and feel it. They 
must know him to be a man upon whom they 
can rely with unshaken confidence. O how 
I despise insincerity and hypocrisy in a pro- 
fessed minister of Christ ! I wonder that a 
thunder-bolt from heaven does not strike him 
down every time he dares to ascend the pul- 
pit. He must be a working man — not an 
idler, not a dandy, not a '^gentleman of lei- 
sure," but an earnest, zealous, faithful laborer 
in the vineyard of the Master. He must give 
himself wholly to the work, and be willing 
^' to spend and be spent " for Christ and souls. 
He ought to be a man of much prayer and 
strong faith, so as to be able to meet difficul- 
ties and trials without discouragement. He 
must '^condescend to men of low estate," 
have compassion upon the ignorant and those 
that are out of the way, and seek to accom- 
modate himself to all that he may do good to 
all. Especially must the minister's life and 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 53 

conduct correspond with his profession and 
preaching. Example speaks louder than 
words, and the most splendid abilities and 
zealous and faithful efforts will accomplish 
but little, if not enforced by a godly walk and 
conversation. It is, therefore, well said to 
be '' the sacred duty of every minister so to 
conduct himself, that his life shall present to 
his congregations an example of true Chris- 
tian propriety of deportment." ''A bishop 
then must be blameless, the husband of one 
wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given 
to hospitality, apt to teach. Not given to 
wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre ; 
but patient ; not a brawler, not covetous ; one 
that ruleth well his own house, having his 
children in subjection with all gravity ; (for 
if a man know not how to rule his own house, 
how shall he take care of the Church of God?) 
Not a novice, (or one newly come to the 
faith), lest being lifted up with pride he fall 
into the condemnation of the devil. More- 
over, he must have a good report of them 
which are without ; lest he fall into reproach 
and the snare of the devil." 1 Tim. 3 : 2-7, 



54 THE VALUE OF AN 

He should ever remember that he has not 
only his conscience and private character to 
maintain, but a public character, and, there- 
fore, he must "avoid even the very appear- 
ance of evil.'' Many a minister has greatly 
impaired his influence for life, or even entire- 
ly ruined himself, by what might perhaps be 
called only a slight impropriety of conduct. 
And what makes the matter so serious is, that 
the injury is not confined to himself and his 
family ; but the church and religion are made 
to suffer and bear the blame. There should 
be a purity, dignity, seriousness, and proprie- 
ty about a minister's character and conduct, 
which would make his example worthy of 
universal imitation, and place him entirely 
above suspicion and beyond reproach. 

Such is a feeble sketch of the character and 
qualifications of the ministry I advocate. An 
order of men called and chosen of God to the 
great work of the world's conversion, they 
must be deeply pious, regularly ordained, 
well educated, evangelical, holy and of most 
exemplary deportment, earnest, prayerful, sin- 
cere, honest, entirely and fully devoted to his 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 55 

work as appointed by Christ himself. Such 
a ministry is the greatest want and the great- 
est blessing of a lost world. Its value is be- 
yond all calculation, and to this subject I now 
invite the reader's most earnest attention. 



56 THE VALUE OF AN 



CHAPTER II. 

VALUE OF AN EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 

Infidelity not only denies the necessity of 
a ministry, but regards it as an imposition upon 
society. It avers that it would be better for 
the world if this office were entirely abolished, 
that the learning, piety, and labors of cler- 
gymen would be much more useful to man- 
kind if employed in some other way than 
preaching the gospel — that the whole ex- 
pense of educating and supporting ministers, 
building churches, and sending out missiona- 
ries, could be saved — that all this money is 
worse than wasted. Now we, who are in 
the ministry, claim to be honest men, and 
that we are laboring for the glory of God and 
the good of society; but if our office could be 
shown to be a perfect sinecure, a useless 
burden upon community, and even injurious 
to its best interests, we ought all immediately 
to abandon it, and assist to pull down our 
churches, or convert them into something 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 57 

else. How is this matter therefore ? What 
can we say for ourselves in regard to our of- 
fice? Well, we join issue with these men, 
and boldly assert against them that an evan- 
gelical ministry^ so far from being useless^ is 
the most important and valuable institution 
that God has established in this sin-stricken 
world. And we shall now proceed to show 
its immense value, and hope to set the whole 
subject in its true light. 

1. And first ^ I assert that the ministry is 
of incalculable pecuniary value. Let it not 
be thought strange that I should begin the 
argument at this point. Some men can cal- 
culate the value of a thing only in dollars and 
cents, and if it cannot be shown to be worth 
just so much in ready money ^ they do not see 
how it can be worth any thing. And as the 
ministry is neither bank-stock, nor specie, nor 
real-estate, producing a six per cent, interest, 
nor a commodity that can readily be con- 
verted into cash, they regard it as possessing 
no value. Hence they contribute to the sup- 
port of the gospel with about the same feel- 
ings as those with which a miser gives a 
6 



58 THE VALUE OF AN 

rusty copper to a suspicious looking beggar. 
Now we must meet these men on their own 
ground, and I shall, therefore, proceed first to 
measure the ministry by the money standard. 
How much is it worth to the community in 
dollars and cents ? Not much, does some 
one perhaps sneeringly reply, for it costs 
large sums to educate men for this office and 
support them in it, besides all the expense of 
erecting churches and sustaining Christianity. 
But hold, objector, you are quite too fast ! 
Do you mean to "jump at conclusions" in 
this manner, without surveying the ground 
over which you have come? I shall prove 
against you that the faithful minister of the 
gospel adds more to the ivealth and prosperity 
of the community f in which he labors^ than any 
other man in it, no matter what his position, 
business, or means may be. He is by far the 
most important and valuable individual in it, 
even to its moneyed interests. High ground ! 
does some one exclaim ? What do you mean ? 
I mean just what I say, and w^ill endeavor to 
make my meaning perfectly clear by an ex- 
ample. Some years ago there lived, at the 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 59 

same time, in the city of Philadelphia, two 
men, one of whom w^as immensely rich, and 
the other, a faithful minister of the gospel, 
was poor. The name of the rich man was 
Stephen Girard, and the minister was the 
Rev, James Patterson of the Presbyterian 
Church. Now" what I mean is that James 
Patterson was w^orth more to the city of Phil- 
adelphia in money ^ or to its moneyed inter- 
ests, though poor, than Stephen Girard with 
all his wealth. Nor do I wish to be under- 
stood as disparaging Mr. Girard. I believe 
him to have been in many respects a useful 
citizen, and his money was w^orth about as 
much to the community in which he lived as 
the money of such men usually is. But let 
me ask, w^hat gave value to Mr. Girard's 
property ? What would it have been worth 
had it not been for Mr. Patterson and other 
men like him ? How long would it have been 
secure from the torch of the incendiary and 
the violence of the mob, if all the restraints 
imposed upon the law^less by the faithful 
preaching of the Gospel in Philadelphia had 
been removed? Not a single hour, as all 



60 THE VALUE OF AN 

cannot but know. It is the civilization, the 
enlightenment, the purity and virtue, the 
honesty and justice, the security to life and 
possessions which the Gospel promotes and 
secures, which give value to property in any 
community. Hence as Mr. Girard, and all 
other property holders in that city, owed the 
value and secure possession of their wealth, 
their peace and safety, and even the security 
of their lives and homes, to the conservative 
influence of the Gospel — to just such men as 
Mr. Patterson — it is clear that the latter was 
worth incalculably more than the former even 
to the moneyed interests of the city. This 
reasoning is confirmed by the experience and 
acknowledgment of even a wealthy Quaker 
gentleman, (and Quakers do not believe in a 
regular ministry,) who was an extensive prop- 
erty holder in that part of Philadelphia called 
the Northern Liberties, where Mr. Patterson 
collected a congregation and built a church, 
and where his mortal remains repose in his 
own graveyard. Mr. Quaker was showing a 
friend the improvements in the neighborhood, 
when, coming to the grave of Patterson, he 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 61 

said, "Seest thou that stone ? There lieth the 
person who did more to raise the value of 
property in the Northern Liberties than any 
man that ever lived ! " But how ? Simply 
by preaching the Gospel and building up a 
Christian Church in that neglected part of 
the city, and thus exerting a most powerful 
and happy influence in favor of law, order, and 
all that is good in that community, and making 
it a desirable place of residence. This the 
Qua!:er had felt in the immense increase 
of the value of his property. Shall I now 
ask how much was Mr. Patterson's ministry 
worth in dollars and cents ? But I must bring 
the subject a little nearer home to the reader's 
owm heart and conscience. You own prop- 
erty in the community in which you reside. 
What is it worth ? Your house or farm, or 
whatever it may be ? Have you ever inquired 
what gives it its present value? Why is the 
land in your neighborhood worth more now 
than it was when the w^ild Indians and buffa- 
loes roamed over it ? Or how much would 
your property be worth if situated in some 
fertile valley of the Rocky Mountains, or in 
6* 



62 THE VALUE OF AN 

some heathen land, or destitute neighborhood 
where there are no Christian ministers and 
churches ? Or suppose that all your houses 
of public worship were burned down or con- 
verted into theatres, the voice of every faith- 
ful minister of Christ among you hushed, and 
all the sanctifying influences and wholesome 
restraints of a preached Gospel removed; 
then tell me how much would your property 
be worth? How long would your house be 
your castle, the peace and virtue of your fam- 
ily be secure, and you be permitted to lie 
down at night and sleep quietly, without any 
fear for your life and possessions? When 
these questions are answered I shall be able 
also to state what is the pecuniary value of 
an evangelical ministry. It is a plain case. 
Men talk about the protection of our laws ; but 
what are laws without a public sentiment 
and moral power suflicient to enforce them ? 
Mere cobwebs. The lawless multitude would 
laugh at your courts of justice, prisons and 
penitentiaries, as well as at your fire com- 
panies to save your cities from the flames, 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 63 

and your iron chests, bolts and bars to secure 
your banks, stores, houses and families. 

But I have additional facts to present on 
this subject. Why was property more valua- 
ble in Jerusalem of old in the days of David 
and Solomon than in those of the wicked 
and licentious Ahab ? And using the lan- 
guage of another, ''what shall w^e say of the 
people of Sodom, where Lot could not exer- 
cise the rites of hospitality to his angel guests, 
by reason of the surrounding depravity and 
licentiousness?" Reader! what would you 
have given for Lot's house, if put up at auc- 
tion, situated in the midst of such a commu- 
nity? And no doubt it was a good house — 
certainly a good man lived in it. But you 
reply that you have no property in Sodom, 
and that the argument is ''far-fetched." But 
let me ask, how long would it take the place 
in which you live to become a Sodom, if all 
your faithful ministers and Gospel influences 
were removed ? Not ten years, as I do verily 
believe. You see then that the argument is 
not so "far-fetched." It has a direct and 
most important home application. 



64 THE VALUE OF AN 

Look also at infidel France during 'Hhe 
reign of terror," as it has been called, a num- 
ber of years ago. Did not every kind of 
property sink in value by reason of the inse- 
curity of life and possessions felt by all, and 
universal bankruptcy threaten the nation ? 
And even to this day does not every man, 
acquainted with the facts, tremble for the re- 
sult in that unhappy country ? What a dis- 
grace to the name of a Republic is France, 
where a miserable usurper can in a few days 
virtually make himself emperor ! What is the 
government of France now but a military des- 
potism? Louis Napoleon's seat, like that of 
the present Pope of Rome, "is upon French 
bayonets." Every moment there is danger 
that the smothered flames of revolution will 
break out again, and spread devastation and 
ruin over the land. Well, what ails France.^ 
W'hat does she want? She wants the Bible, 
a Protestant Christianity, and a faithful evan- 
gelical ministry. Without these nothing un- 
der the heavens can save her. Her soil will 
again be deluged by the blood of her own 
citizens, and nothing but the iron rod of des- 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 65 

potism can govern her. Her reason and 
infidel philosophy and Roman Catholicism 
cannot save her. 

" There is another fact" showing the 
pecuniary value of an evangelical ministry, 
says a late writer, '' which should not be over- 
looked: it is the remarkable one, that no- 
w^here, except w^here Christianity prevails, 
can you find those partnerships in trade and 
commerce which are indispensable in order to 
give to property its greatest value. This 
fact, attested by travelers and missionaries in 
pagan countries, speaks volumes in favor of 
Christianity, as the friend and promoter of 
earthly prosperity. Why cannot heathens, 
as well as Christians, combine their w^ealth, 
so as to give it greater value by giving it 
greater power of accumulation ? It is be- 
cause their religion, or rather the w^ant of true 
religion, forbids the exercise of mutual confi- 
dence, creating universal mistrust, and mak- 
ing every man an iceberg to his neighbor. 
Hence the reason why, in pagan'^countries^ 
you cannot find any associations for purposes 
of trade or commerce — of banking or benevo- 



66 THE VALUE OF AN 

lence. Hence their resources are crippled, 
and the public mind is stagnant. But let the 
Christian pulpit be planted there, and the 
truth as it is in Jesus pervade the hearts and 
minds of the people, and the now dead mass 
would at once exhibit signs of life, and put 
on such an aspect of enterprise and prosperity 
as heathenism never saw, and never can pro- 
duce." It is impossible to estimate fully the 
influence which a fiiithful Christian ministry 
has upon the prosperity of a land. 

Many other facts might be adduced, show- 
ing the immense value of the Christian pulpit 
to the moneyed interests of a nation or com- 
munity ; but I deem it unnecessary. I will 
only add, what must be readily suggested to 
any reflecting mind, that it costs Jess to re- 
strain and irrevent vice and crime than to 
support them. One or the other must be 
done. Wickedness must either be prevented 
or cured; and if ever ''an ounce of preven- 
tion is better than a pound of cure," it is in 
this case. Let any man reflect, and try to 
estimate, if he can, what is the cost, directly 
and indirectly, of all the criminal prosecutions 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 67 

in the United States, of all the court-houses, 
jails and penitentiaries, of all the drunken- 
ness, wars, and other crimes, and of the prop- 
erty destroyed by fire and otherwise by the 
wickedness of men, and he will have some 
idea of the value of an institution which goes 
directly to prevent and restrain vice and 
crime, and indeed to root them out entirely. 
Now the ministry is this institution. That 
is, not a time-serving, velvet-tongued, popu- 
larity-seeking ministry; but one that is true, 
earnest, bold, independent and faithful. One 
that will fearlessly speak out in the name of 
God, and with a powerful hand hurl the 
thunder-bolts of the divine wrath against sin, 
and pour the burning lava of heaven's own 
truth in mighty streams upon the hearts and 
consciences of the guilty. The fact is, that 
the people of this country have just this 
choice: either they must educate and support 
faithful ministers, build churches, and main- 
tain and spread Christianity ; or they must 
build and sustain a sufficient number of jails 
and penitentiaries to hold all the criminals, 
which will multiply in the land like the frogs 



68 THE VALUE OF AN 

of Egypt. Either, by means of the labors 
of a fearless and devoted ministry, must the 
masses of the people be made moral, and vice 
and crime be prevented, or, as in France, 
must an immense standing army be main- 
tained to cure the dreadful disease with cold 
lead and polished steel. Reader! which do 
you regard as the best and cheapest plan ? 
For which purpose will you give your money ? 
I beseech you to think of these things when 
you are again asked to aid in the education 
and support of ministers, and the sending 
forth of missionaries, and contribute accord- 
ing to the value which you receive. 

2. Again^ an evangelical ministry is of 
great value in the civilization and refinement 
of society. It is the principal means of keep- 
ing up any proper sanctification of the Sab- 
bath, and of bringing the people together in 
an orderly and Christian assembly. If there 
were no preaching of the Gospel, the Sabbath 
would either be spent in labor as other days, 
or in idleness and dissipation; and all the 
hallowed, refining and enlightening influences 
of the Lord's day would be lost to the com- 



EVANGEIJCAL MINISTRY. 69 

munity. But as long as the Christian pulpit 
is sustained, the observance of this sacred 
day will also be kept up. Men will lay aside 
their worldly employments, and all, old and 
young, rich and poor, the workman and his 
hands, will rest one day out of seven and en- 
gage in the worship of their Maker. And 
who can calculate the amount of good thus 
effected in the civilization and refinement, as 
well as in promoting the peace, health, pros- 
perity and happiness of the community. 

It affords relaxation to body and mind^ 
The farmer leaves his fields, the laborer his 
toils, the mechanic his shop, the merchant his 
counting-house, the teacher the confinement 
of the school-room, and the professional man 
his business, and all rest and are refreshed. 
A visit to the house of God calls Iheir atten- 
tion to the other world, and to other scenes 
and duties, and they are enabled, at least for 
a time, to lay aside and forget the cares and 
troubles of life. A day thus spent almost 
makes new men of them. '' It is better than 
a thousand." They have breathed another 
atmosphere, eminently healthful and invig- 
7 



70 THE VALUE OF AN 

orating, and they take a new start in life. 
They are prepared to enter upon the labors 
of the next week with fresh hope, zeal and 
comfort. It promotes domestic peace and hap- 
piness. Perhaps the father and head of the 
family has enjoyed little of his home during 
the week. Early and late he has been away 
at his toils. Hurriedly he came and went 
from his meals, the cares of his business all 
the while pressing upon him, so that he had 
neither time nor inclination to exchange even 
a few pleasant words with those whom he 
loves. But now the Sabbath has dawned, 
and how altered the situation of that family ! 
The anxieties of business and the week are 
laid aside, the father's care-worn countenance 
is calm and placid, and pleasant intercourse 
is had and sweet counsel taken around that 
domestic hearth. Clad in their best, with 
smiling faces and joyful hearts, the members 
of that family, parents and children, are now 
seen v/ending their way, hand in hand, to 
the house of God, to '' hear of heaven and 
learn the way." Blessed institution of God! 
Who can estimate how much this promotes 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 71 

the peace, happiness and refinement of that 
Christian family ! But the preaching of the 
Gospel also promotes purity of heart and life^ 
and thus tends to the refinement of society* 
'' Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word 
is truth," is the prayer of the Saviour; and 
as there can be no true refinement without 
purity of heart, so there is no power in the 
universe that can renew and sanctify man's 
corrupt nature but the Spirit of God by means 
of his own truth. Educate a man as you 
will, polish his manners, and let him enjoy 
the advantages of '^the best society," as the 
world would express it, and what is he with- 
out a renewed, sanctified heart? *'A whited 
wall — a garnished sepulchre." You have 
drawn forth the intellectual powers, and 
adorned the outer man, but you have left all 
the savage passions unsubdued in the heart; 
within he is full of every corruption and 
abomination. But bring him to the house of 
God, and the very silence and solemnity of 
the place must have a powerful influence 
upon him. He now listens to the sacred 
song and the devout prayer, and the minister 



72 THE VALUE OF AN 

of God tells him of his sinfulness and danger, 
and points him to death, judgment and eter- 
nity. His wickedness is rebuked, and his 
lusts wither and die, as the lightnings of di- 
vine truth are flashed upon his heart and con- 
science. The tendency must be greatly to 
soften, subdue, and refine, even vvhere actual 
conversion to God does not take place. 
The tiger is tamed. But when the Holy 
Spirit descends '^ to convince the world of 
sin, righteousness and judgment," and the 
assembly is melted into contrition and peni- 
tence before God, as is often the case under 
the faithful preaching of the Gospel, how 
powerful the effect ! What searching of 
heart! What self-loathing! What desires 
after holiness and conformity to the divine 
will ! It is under such influences that men's 
hearts are renewed and their characters 
changed. But as this subject will come up 
again in a subsequent part of this volume, I 
will not dwell upon it now. I will only yet 
add that, aside from the instructions and the 
direct religious influences of the pulpit, the 
simple meeting together of jMople in the house 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 73 

of Gody the reverence y decency and decorum 
of the place J tend greatly to purity and re- 
finement. Behold a Christian assembly met 
together for public worship ! Here all are 
neatly, decently clad ; proper attention has 
been given to cleanliness and the toilet, (and 
some attention to these things is necessary, 
if we are to be any thing else than heathens ;) 
the passions are calmed ; quietness, solemni- 
ty and good behaviour mark the deportment 
of every one ; each is respectful to his neigh- 
bor and attentive to the exercises of the oc- 
casion ; the proud seem for a time to forget 
their vanity, and the most rude to learn man- 
ners ; all distinctions are laid aside, and to- 
gether they sing, pray and hear the Gospel. 
how blessed is the influence of such a 
meeting ! Now suppose that there were no 
Sabbath. and no such meeting together of the 
people ; but that, ^'unshaven and unshorn,'' 
all lived on from week to week, month to 
month, and year to year, without any speci- 
fied time to change their dress or occupation, 
or attend to cleanliness of person — I ask 
what must be the inevitable result? Must 
7* 



74 THE VALUE OF AN 

not, in a short time, all decency of behaviour 
and refinement of feelings and manners be 
utterly lost among the masses ? Or suppose 
that when men did assemble and seek each 
other's society, it were in the disorderly and 
tumultuous manner of the political meeting, 
the theatre, the circus, and the bar-room, to 
have their passions inflamed, and to become 
excited and quarrel ; what must, under such 
circumstances, in a few years, become of our 
civilization and refinement ? I hesitate not 
to reply that, with all our boasted enlighten- 
ment and polish, the vast multitude would 
soon return to perfect heathenism Just let 
all our churches be shut, and every evangeli- 
cal pulpit be silenced in this land for ten 
years, and we w^U have heathens in abund- 
ance in the United States, if indeed the whole 
country did not sink with the weight of its 
own corruption long before that time. There 
is no use to attempt to set aside the truth 
of this reasoning. '^ Facts are stubborn 
things." Let infidels say what they may, it 
is a fact that real civilization and refinement 
can be produced only by the Gospel of Christ. 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 75 

There never has been, and there is not now, 
a people upon the face of the earth that can 
properly be called civilized or enlightened, 
except under the influence of Christianity. 
No system of education, philosophy or morals, 
that the genius of man ever invented, can 
elevate our wretched and fallen race. Many 
noted experiments have been made which 
have all ended in signal failure and disgrace. 
The history of the world is decisive upon this 
point. Sooner may ^'the leopard change his 
spots, or the Ethiopian his skin," or the 
mighty river run backwards, than that any 
power but that which is Divine should be 
able to renew, elevate and sanctify man's 
corrupt nature. God alone, who created the 
heart, can new-create it, and to talk about 
refinement without this, is surely to talk non- 
sense. What! that man really refined whose 
heart is still the seat of every vile affection 
and unholy passion — out of w^hich still ^' pro- 
ceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, for- 
nications, thefts, false witness and blasphe- 
mies?" No, no; without scriptural holiness 
no person can be said to be truly refined, 



76 THE VALUE OF AN 

any more than Satan himself. And as the 
preaching of the Gospel is the principal means 
to effect this, how important must it be to the 
elevation and refinement of the human family. 

3. I come in the third place to consider 
the intellectual value of the ministry. 

Ministers generally are, or ought to be, ed- 
ucated men, who are capable of instructing 
the people. They are the devoted friends 
and patrons of education, and, as a class, 
American Protestant clergymen have done 
more, and are now doing more, to extend its 
blessings to all ranks and conditions of our 
population than any other portion of our fel- 
low citizens. They are greatly in advance of 
the other professions in this respect. When 
schools are to be established, colleges and 
seminaries founded and cared for, a Christian 
press is to be set up, a Christian literature to 
be published and spread abroad, the public 
mind to be enlightened, the public conscience 
to be quickened, and great systems and en- 
terprises for the intellectual and moral eleva- 
tion of men are to be adopted and carried for- 
ward, to whom shall we go, to whom do we 



• EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 77 

go, but to an intelligent and pious ministry ? 
Most of the professorships in our higher sem- 
inaries of learning are filled by clergymen. 
Most of the valuable books published in this 
country have been written by them, and for 
our best newspaper and periodical literature 
we are indebted to them. In these respects 
they are eminently distinguished, and in this 
country stand quite in the front ranks of 
literature and science. 

But it is not here that the chief intellectual 
value of the ministry is found ; but in the in- 
structions of the pulpit. Evangelical clergy- 
men have never had justice done them in this 
respect. The faithful preaching of the Gos- 
pel is a most powerful means of public edu- 
cation. And here is one of the great points 
of difference between the Protestant Minis- 
try and the Romish Priesthood. We are 
PREACHERS ; not Latin Mass-sayers — not 
pontifical sacrificers — not sacred mounte- 
banks — but expounders of the Word of God, 
and public teachers of religion. This has 
been the principal work of true ministers ever 
since the office was instituted. Christ himself 



78 THE VALUE OF AN 

was a PREACHER. ''He went about all the 
cities and villages " of Palestine, ''teaching in 
their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel 
of the kingdom." Matt. 9 : 35. And his 
last great command to the apostles was, "Go 
ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing 
them in the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them 
to observe all things whatsoever I have com- 
manded you." "Go ye into all the world 
and preach the Gospel to every creature." 
Matthew 28 : 19, 20. Mark 16 : 15. And 
having received such a high commission, the 
apostles well understood that they were not 
to be priests and sacrificers, but preachers of 
the Word. Hence we read of them, that soon 
after Pentecost and while yet at Jerusalem, 
" and daily in the temple, and in every house, 
they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus 
Christ." Acts 5 : 42. And Paul appeals to 
the elders of Ephesus, saying, " I kept back 
nothing that was profitable unto you, but have 
showed you, and have taught you publicly, and 
from house to house, testifying both to the 
Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance tc- 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 79 

ward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus 
Christ." Acts 20:20, 21. This is suffi- 
cient to show both the character and work of 
the ministers of Christ, and I believe that in 
these United States Protestant clergymen do 
more, by the preaching of the Gospel, to dis- 
seminate the truth and enlighten the public 
mind, than all other persons and instrumen- 
talities united. Their instructions embrace 
the most important and valuable subjects ; 
they are open to all — rich and poor, old and 
young, high and low, educated and ignor- 
ant — and they are brought down to the ca- 
pacity of all, even those who cannot read 
may hear and learn. How sublime the sight 
to behold a w^hole city, town, or neighbor- 
hood, repairing to the house of God, Sabbath 
after Sabbath, to be taught the great lessons 
of divine truth by the living ministers ! — go- 
ing to school to the messengers of Jesus 
Christ ! How wide-spread and important 
must be the influence which is thus exerted 
upon the intelligence and virtue of the com- 
munity and upon the nation at large ! 
^^ And let me add, there is di power in Bible 



80 THE VALUE OF AN 

truth, the truth of God published from our 
evangelical pulpits, to enlighten the mind, to 
arouse and invigorate its energies, which no 
other kind of truth^ possesses. We have 
heard of the power of mathematical and 
scientific truth, and of the study of the lan- 
guages and philosophy to awaken and de- 
velop the intellectual faculties, and to dis- 
cipline and beautify the mind ; but there is 
no truth like that of God's Word for this pur- 
pose. Nor do I now refer to the influences 
of the Holy Spirit which ever accompany the 
faithful preaching of the Gospel ; but I mean 
that power which is in the Divine Word it- 
self. It is adapted to the nature and wants 
of man by infinite wisdom, and hence, when 
preached in its purity, will exert an influence, 
far beyond that of any other kind of truth, in 
drawing out the human intellect and giving 
it strength and manliness. This fact is suffi- 
ciently attested by the great superiority of 
Christian over heathen nations, both ancient 
and modern, and of one people over another, 
just in proportion to the extent to which the 
Gospel has prevailed among them in its 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 81 

purity. All know that there is a vast differ- 
ence between the inhabitants of the United 
States and Mexico, for instance, New England 
and South America, Great Britain and Spain, 
and the question is, how does it come? What 
is the cause of it ? Will it be said that the 
Anglo-Saxon race, which seems destined at 
no distant day to rule the world, is naturally 
superior to other races of men ? If so, we 
still ask how does it come ? Have not all 
men the same origin, the same Creator, and 
the same destiny ? Do they not dwell upon 
the same earth, cultivate the same soil, 
breathe the same atmosphere, and look upon 
the same sun and heavens above, and the 
same mountain ranges and natural scenery be- 
neath ? Whence then the difference ? Why 
was it said, boastingly of course, in the late 
war with Mexico, '^that one Yankee was 
w^orth a dozen Mexicans?" And the result 
of the whole contest, especially the battle of 
Buena Vista, seems to prove that there was 
some truth in the saying. But how ? Had 
the Yankees any natural advantage over the 
Mexicans ? Surely not. They were away 
8 



S2 THE VALUE OF AN 

from home and in an enemy's land, and the 
advantage must have been on the other side. 
Their cannons, muskets and swords, were no 
better. Had they then a greater thirst for 
blood? — more war, or more devil in their 
hearts ? No, no. How then can we account 
for these facts? But one solution, I think, 
can be given. The Yankees were freemen, 
but the Mexicans miserable slaves, fettered 
in intellect and conscience by a horrible sys- 
tem of superstition and priest-craft, falsely 
called Christianity. The one have the Bible, 
a free Gospel, and an educated, faithful evan- 
gelical ministry. From their cradles they had 
breathed the pure and invigorating atmos- 
phere of a country made free by the word of 
God, and they knew and felt that they were 
MEN. But the others are without the Bible, 
without the ministry, and without any of the 
sacred influences of a pure Christianity, and 
scarcely know or feel that they are any thin^ 
more than beasts. I know well that the Bible 
does not teach or encourage the spirit of war ; 
on the contrary it inculcates and tends to pro- 
duce universal benevolence and peace: but I 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 83 

am now speaking merely of its power to 
arouse, invigorate and free the intellect ; and 
it may and does exert this power without 
necessarily sanctifying the heart. 

The immense field of knowledge opened 
before the mind in the Gospel, and the great, 
important and thrilling truths which form the 
subject of pulpit discussions, are eminently 
calculated to call forth all the latent energies 
of the soul, and to bring them into the most 
vigorous and healthful exercise; and as a con- 
sequence, those powers must be developed, 
enlarged, elevated and beautified. The Gos- 
pel spreads out the universe and eternity be- 
fore us; tells us of a God who is almighty, 
omniscient, every where present, and infinite 
iii all his perfections, and most glorious in 
all his ways, and whose government extends 
over the universe, and over all time, past, 
present and to come. It reveals a plan of 
salvation so grand and magnificent that an- 
gels desired to look into it, and that the most 
powerful intellect staggers beneath the effort 
fully to grasp it. The evangelical preacher 
points to a state of immortality beyond the 



84 THE VALUE OF AN 

grave, and unfolds man's future wonderful 
destiny ; for '' Christ hath abolished death, 
and hath brought life and immortality to light 
through the Gospel." He dwells upon many 
other equally great, sublime and stirring 
truths, which I need not specify. Now it is 
perfectly manifest that these are the most 
grand and awful subjects that can ever be 
brought before the human mind, and those, 
too, in which man is most deeply interested. 
Their contemplation must, therefore, tend to 
awaken, expand and invigorate the powers 
of the soul, as nothing else can. It is im- 
possible that the mind should be brought, 
Sabbath after Sabbath, to grapple with such 
subjects, without vast improvement. A great 
increase of activity, power, knowledge and 
manliness must be the result. 

I will here introduce a few extracts from a 
sermon of Melvill on '^The power of religion 
to strengthen the human intellect," (Sermons 
by Henry Melvill, B. D., pages 140, etc.,) 
which are alike striking and beautiful. '^And 
what we contend is, that the study of the 
Bible, even when supposed without influence 



EVANGELICAL INHNISTRY. 85 

on the soul, is calculated, far more than any 
other study, to enlarge the mind and strength- 
en the intellect. There is nothing so likely 
to elevate, and endow with new vigor, our 
faculties, as the bringing them into contact 
with stupendous truths, and the setting them 
to grasp and measure those truths. If the 
human mind grow dwarfish and enfeebled, it 
is, ordinarily, because left to deal with com- 
mon-place facts, and never summoned to the 
effort of taking the span and altitude of broad 
and lofty disclosures. The understanding 
will gradually bring itself down to the dimen- 
sions of the matters wath which alone it is 
familiarized, till, having long been habituated 
to contracting its powers, it shall well-nigh 
lose the ability of expanding them. But if it 
be for the enlargement of the mind, and the 
strengthening of its faculties, that acquaint- 
ance should be made with ponderous and far- 
spreading truths, it must be clear that knowl- 
edge of the Bible outdoes all other knowledge 

in bringing round such result The 

Bible, whilst the only book for the soul, 
is the best book for the intellect. The sub- 
8* 



86 THE VALUE OF AN 

limity of the topics of which it treats ; the 
dignified simphcity of its manner of handling 
them ; the nobleness of the mysteries which 
it develops; the illumination which it throws 
on points the most interesting to creatures 
conscious of immortality; all these conspire 
to bring round a result which we insist upon 
as actual and necessary, namely, that the man 
w^ho should study the Bible, and not be bene- 
fited by it spiritually, would be benefited by 
it intellectually. We think it may be leck- 
oned amongst incredible things, that converse 
should be held with the first parents of our 
race ; that man should stand on this creation 
whilst its beauty was unsullied, and then 
mark the retinue of destruction careering 
wath a dominant step over its surface; that 
he should be admitted to intercourse with pa- 
triarchs and prophets, and move through 
scenes peopled with majesties of the Eternal, 
and behold the Godhead himself coming 
down into humanity, and working out, in the 
mysterious coalition, the discomfiture of the 
powers of darkness — oh, we reckon it, w^e 
say, amongst incredible things, that all this 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 87 

should be permitted to man — as it is permit- 
ted to every student of Scripture — and yet 
that he should not come back from the enno- 
bling associations with a mind a hundred-fold 
more expanded, and a hundred-fold more 
elevated, than if he had given his time to the 
exploits of Caesar, or, poured forth his atten- 
tion on the results of machinery." I must 
be indulged with one extract more from this 
excellent discourse: '^ We say again, that if 
you keep out of sight the concern that man 
has in Scriptural truths, regarding him as born 
for eternity, there is a grandeur about these 
truths, and a splendor, and a beauty, which 
must amaze and fascinate him, if he look not 
beyond the present era of existence. In all 
the wide range of sciences, what science is 
there comparable, in its sublimity and diffi- 
culty, to the science of God ? In all the an- 
nals of humankind, what history is there so 
curious, and so riveting, as that of the infancy 
of man, the cradling, so to speak, of earth's 
population ? Where will you find a lawgiver 
from whose edicts may be learned a nobler 
jurisprudence than is exhibited by the statute 



88 THE VALUE OF AN 

book of Moses ? Whence will you gather 
such vivid illustrations of the power of truth 
as are furnished by the march of Christianity, 
when apostles stood alone, and a whole world 
was against them ? And if there be no book 
w^hich treats of loftier science, and none 
which contains a more interesting history, 
and none which more thoroughly discloses 
tlie 'principles of right and the prowess of 
truth; why then, just so far as mental im- 
provement can be proved dependent on ac- 
quaintance with scientific matters, or histori- 
cal, or legal, or ethical, the Bible, beyond all 
other books, must be counted the grand en- 
gine for achieving that improvement: and 
we claim for the Holy Scriptures the illustri- 
ous distinction, that, containing whatsoever 
is needful for saving the soul, they present 
also whatsoever is best calculated for strength- 
ening the intellect." 

My apology for these long extracts from 
Melvill is found in their intrinsic value and 
the great importance of the subject. I need 
scarcely observe that if his reasoning applies 
to the reading and study of the Scriptures, it 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 89 

applies with much more power to the faithful 
preaching of the Gospel, where these great 
Bible truths are forcibly brought out and il- 
lustrated, so that all understand and feel them. 
Indeed I know not how we can overrate the 
value of the right kind of a ministry as a 
means of education for the great mass of the 
people. If it had no other value, this alone 
would be a sufficient reason why all should 
rally around it, and vigorously support it. 
As a means of education alone it repays any 
community a thousand-fold for what it costs 
to sustain it. 

4. / remark^ in the fourth place, that an 
evangelical ministry is of great national value. 

In a country like ours, where the public 
will is the ultimate source of power and the 
supreme law of the land, it is of the utmost 
importance that the public mind should be 
properly regulated and sanctified by the Gos- 
pel of Christ. If we lived under a monarchi- 
cal government, where the will of the king 
was our supreme law, we should all feel it to 
be a matter of the highest moment to our in- 
dividual and social happiness that that king 



90 THE VALUE OF AN 

should be a very wise and a very good man. 
If we knew him to be thoroughly educated 
and a devoted Christian, we would have an 
assurance that he would make only wise and 
good laws, and that he w^ould always do 
right, and we should feel contented and hap- 
py under his government. But if he were an 
ignorant and wricked man, how^ dreadful w^ould 
be our situation ! Well, ours is a Republic. 
Here the people rule. But the worst form of 
government of which we can conceive would 
be that of a republic where the people gen- 
erally were ignorant, corrupt and wicked. 
Hence we have not ojie king to educate, but 
many; for in a certain sense all are kings 
here. Every voter among us should there- 
fore be qualified, intellectually and morally, 
as if he w^ere to govern the nation alone. 
Nothing can be plainer than that to govern 
themselves well, the people must be qualified 
for it. They ought all to have proper quali- 
fications, for they all take a part in the gov- 
ernment. The question whether the people 
are capable of self-government is easily an- 
swered : if they possess the necessary intel- 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 91 

lectual and moral qualifications to lead them 
to make good laws, and to obey them, they 
are undoubtedly qualified. If not, they are 
not and never can be. And Christianity 
furnishes the only means by which men can 
become thus qualified. I say emphatically 
they must become qualified for self-govern- 
ment, for they are not so by nature. They 
are deeply fallen and dreadfully depraved. 
'' The whole head is sick and the whole heart 
is faint." ^' The heart is deceitful above all 
things, and desperately wicked, who can 
know it ?" Men are full of evil desires, lusts 
and passions ; how should they be able to 
make good law^s ? The heart is a corrupt 
fountain whence flow out continually '' evil 
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, 
thefts, blasphemies, false witness, and these 
things defile the man." How should such a 
corrupt tree be able to bring forth good fruit ? 
or such a poisonous fountain send forth 
sweet waters ? Man's understanding is dark- 
ened, his conscience polluted, his will en- 
slaved by sin, his judgment often swayed by 
passion, and his affections vile and misplaced. 



92 THE VALUE OF AN 

Now the public will of a nation, made up of 
such fallen and depraved creatures, must of 
necessity be as corrupt as the individuals are, 
and would in fact be but an expression of 
their aggregate wickedness. Accordingly 
the voice of the people, instead of being the 
voice of God, would be much more likely to 
be the voice of the devil. It would not be 
vox populi^ vox Dei^ but vox diaboli! What 
kind of laws would such people make ? Or 
if they had good laws, what would they do 
w^ith them ? But one answer can be given 
to these questions, and that is written with 
blood in the history of every nation that has 
ever attempted self-government without the 
powerful and saving influences of the Gospel 
of Christ. I consider then that the matter is 
setded, that the people must first be qualified 
before they are capable of self-government. 
Two qualifications are indispensable, viz : 
intellisrence and virtue — education and true 
religion. Now Christianity has this great 
distinction and honor, that it teaches men 
their rights and qualifies them to maintain 
and enjoy them. It is eminently democratic 



EVANGELICAL ML\ISTRY. 93 

in its spirit and principles. It knows nothing 
of "the divine right of kings," or of one 
class of men to oppress and enslave another. 
Our national Declaration of Independence is 
but the echo of the teachings of the Bible 
when it says : " We hold these truths to be 
self-evident: — that all men are created equal, 
that they are endowed by their Creator with 
certain unalienable rights ; that among these 
are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." 
This was not a new sentiment hatched up in 
the brain of the author of the declaration ; but 
the enunciation of an old Bible truth. Long 
ago the Bible had said, '' Have we not all 
one Father ? hath not one God created us ? 
Why do we deal treacherously, every man 
against his brother, by profaning the covenant 
of our fathers?" "But be not ye called 
Rabbi : for one is your Master, even Christ ; 
and all ye are brethren." " Therefore all 
things whatsoever ye would that men should 
do to you, do ye even so to them : for this is 
the law and the prophets." " And God hath 
made of one blood all nations of men, for to 
dwell on all the face of the earth." (Matt. 
9 



94 THE VALUE OF AN 

2:10. Matt. 23:8. Matt. 7:12. Acts 
17:26.) I say Christianity not only thus 
teaches the natural equality and universal 
brotherhood of mankind, and therefore shows 
them their rights; but it also furnishes the 
means by which they can be qualified for 
self-government, that is to maintain and enjoy 
their rights. It alone can renew the heart, 
when applied by the Holy Spirit, and so sub- 
due and regulate the passions, as to enable 
an individual to govern himself; and a com- 
munity or nation is made up of individuals ; 
and where each can govern himself properly, 
the whole will have no difficulty in governing 
the nation. Now God's own chosen instru- 
mentality for spreading Christianity, and 
bringing it to bear upon the hearts and con- 
sciences of the people, is the faithful preach- 
ing of the Gospel. Other means may be 
employed, and have their use and benefit — 
the Bible must be circulated, the young must 
be instructed, and a sanctified literature fur- 
nished to all — but it is by the preaching of 
the Gospel, by holy and devoted men, more 
than by any and all other means, that men 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 95 

are to be awakened to a sense of their guilt 
and danger, reclaimed from a life of sin and 
folly, and led to that '' fountain which was 
opened in the house of David and to the in- 
habitants of Jerusalem for sin and for unclean- 
ness." Hence the ministry has a direct and 
most powerful influence in qualifying men for 
self-government, and in sustaining our free 
institutions. I do not believe that our pres- 
ent happy form of government could exist for 
any length of time without the powerful con- 
servative influence of the evangelical ministry 
of this country. It is a government of law^s 
and principles which are founded upon the 
Gospel, and can only be sustained when the 
people themselves are deeply imbued with 
and controlled by its spirit. The ministry is 
the chief instrumentality for diflfusing and 
maintaining these principles, and hence it is 
indispensable to our national prosperity and 
safety. The corner-stone of the temple of 
our liberties is Christianity, and its main pil- 
lars are the intelligence and virtue of the 
people. The moment you remove these sup- 
ports, the w^hole superstructure must crumble 



93 THE VALUE OF AN 

to ruins ; while the light that shines around 
would only tend to make more apparent the 
extent and deformity of the terrible wreck. 
No man can fully estimate the value of the 
ministry to this nation. It will rise or fall 
w^ith it. A pious, devoted and well educated 
ministry is the nation's greatest safeguard 
and blessing; a corrupt or incompetent one, 
next to none at all, would be its greatest 
curse. 

The direct and happy influence of an evan- 
gelical pulpit, from Sabbath to Sabbath, is 
to sustain law and order — to diffuse a love of 
liberty, peace, and our republican institutions. 
Men are there taught to respect and honor 
magistrates, and to pray for our rulers and 
all that are in authority over us, "that we 
may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all 
godliness and honesty." 

It tends to form a public conscience, and to t 
set up and maintain the true standard of 
right, which is of the very first importance to 
the safety and happiness of the nation. Look 
at the workings of a vigorous public con- 
science ! Whence the odium which vice and 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 97 

crime have to encounter among us ? Whence 
that withering rebuke which their perpetrator 
has to meet from an indignant public, and 
which makes him tremble and quake, or hide 
his head in shame ? It is because there is a 
public conscience which instinctively con- 
demns the wrong and approves the right. 
Let a man commit some flagrant deed of 
w^ickedness, and for want of the necessary 
proof, or through favoritism, bribery, or some 
other means, escape the punishment which 
our laws inflict: how is he regarded b} a vir- 
tuous and insulted community ? Why, their 
indignation and frown immediately inflict an 
almost insufferable punishment. This is a 
tribunal w^hich cannot be bribed, and from 
which there is no escape, and a retribution 
which is certain, irreversible, and follows 
him to the grave. Why does the community 
render such a terrible and yet such a righteous 
verdict ? It is because a correct standard of 
right has been set up, and a healthful public 
conscience formed by the faithful preaching 
of the Gospel. 

So numerous and great are the blessings of 
9^ 



98 THE VALUE OF AN 

an evangelical ministry to the best interests 
of this nation, that though Church and State 
are, and ought to be, and must be for ever 
entirely separated in our country, yet the civil 
authorities ought to value most highly the 
services of these men, and sacredly to guard 
their persons and rights, and to see to it that 
they be not interfered with, or hindered in 
their great work and heavenly mission. That 
politician, legislator, or magistrate, must be 
regarded as the natural enemy of his country, 
who would interfere with, or regard with in- 
difference, neglect or contempt, the efforts 
and work of the true ministers of Christ. 
that our legislators may be wise and see the 
importance of these things ! 

5. The last point to be considered in this 
connection is the spiritual or religious value 
of the ministry, 

I need not remind the Christian reader that 
this is after all by far the most important as- 
pect in which we can view the ministry. It 
is the grand instrumentality w^hich God him- 
self has instituted and employs for the con- 
version of the world. Other means are to be 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 99 

used and have their importance, as we have 
remarked in illustrating another subject; — 
the Bible is to be circulated among all men, 
written truth in the form of books, tracts and 
periodicals, is to be given to the people ; and 
colporteurs may be sent out every where to 
circulate a Christian literature and converse 
and pray with the destitute and neglected ; 
private Christians are to employ efforts for 
the salvation of men ; and Bible and cate- 
chetical classes. Sabbath schools, and prayer- 
meetings, and other similar instrumentalities 
all have their importance, and may be made 
to work powerfully upon the destinies of our 
race for good; but God's great and chosen 
means is the preaching of the Gospel, This 
is above all the rest, and must ever have the 
preference, for it is "by the foolishness of 
preaching" that God saves them that believe. 
No other means, however good and useful , 
which tend to depreciate or set aside, or in- 
terfere with the ministry, can be innocently 
employed by the Church. All these other 
means, though they grow out of the piety and 
zeal of the Church, and are beautiful exhibi- 



100 THE VALUE OF AN 

tions of the spirit of the Gospel, are of human 
appointment, but the ministry was instituted 
by Christ himself. I have for a number of 
years taken an active part in the operations 
of the American Bible and Tract Societies, 
and the Sunday School Union I have done 
what I could to promote their prosperity, and 
rejoiced and blessed God for their success. 
I have acted the colporteur to some extent 
myself, and have at different times had the 
direction and control of a number of colpor- 
teurs. And I am still interested in and at- 
tached to these operations w^ith all my heart ; 
yet I must confess that I have at times feared, 
that the attention and efforts and means of 
the American churches being taken up so 
much with the doings of these great societies, 
the} would, in some degree, lose sight of the 
infinitely greater and more important work of 
adequately supplying the world with the right 
kind of a ministry. This would indeed be a 
great calamity, for it would be neglecting 
Christ's own institution for those of man's 
devising. Now w^e have no reason to sup- 
pose that religion would prosper in the world. 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 101 

to any great extent, or that many souls would 
be converted, without the preaching of Christ 
crucified, no matter what other means were 
employed. God is wiser than men, and he 
always has honored the instrumentality of his 
own appointment, and he always will. It is 
the ministry that has given life, energy and 
efficiency to all those other means and insti- 
tutions, and if it should fail, or be neglected, 
or its ranks be filled up with incompetent and 
unworthy men, they would soon languish and 
die, or utterly degenerate, every thing holy 
and good would suffer, and error, infidelity 
and wickedness would soon prevail uni- 
versally. While, therefore, I feel disposed 
to encourage the utmost zeal and efl^ort in 
behalf of those human instrumentalities for 
good, let us not forget God's own great insti- 
tution. The devoted ministers of Christ who 
are now in the field, '' bearing the burden and 
heat of the day," must be properly sustained 
and encouraged, and the church must adopt 
more efficient measures than she has ever yet 
done, to educate and send forth a sufficient 
number of able, devoted and faithful men to 



102 THE VALUE OF AN 

"go into ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE 

Gospel to every creature." 

I think it cannot be denied that the pros- 
perity and success of true religion in the 
world has ever been identified with the pros- 
perity and success of a faithful evangelical 
ministry. In the language of Dr. Dwight, I 
think that it is true that ''relierion has in 
this respect been so nearly co-extensive with 
preaching, that where preaching has not been, 
there has, with scarcely a solitary exception, 
been no religion : and wherever preaching 
has existed for any length of time, religion 
has almost invariably existed also." The 
first converts to Christianity were made by 
the preaching of Christ and his apostles; and 
after the ascension of our Saviour the church 
was established and extended, Christianity 
spread, converts multiplied, and congrega- 
tions of believers gathered by the faithful 
preaching of the apostles and the first minis- 
ters whom they ordained. The same thing 
is true of the church during the several cen- 
turies immediately succeeding the days of the 
apostles, until the rise of the Great Apostacy, 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 103 

when preaching gradually fell into disuse, 
and finally became almost extinct during the 
thousand years of the Dark Ages." At the 
Reformation it was again revived, and indeed 
it was the great instrumentality employed in 
the reformation of the church and the re-estab- 
lishment of true religion at that time, as it 
has been among Protestants to this day. 
The Reformers were nearly all eminent, pow^- 
erful preachers of the Gospel. It was their 
earnest and eloquent appeals from the sacred 
deskj falling like mighty thunder upon the 
dull ears of a slumbering world, which roused 
men to thought and to action. It is not 
without meaning that men said of Luther: 

'' Fulgura erant linguae 
Cuncta Luthere tuae." 

I hardly know how to put this into English, 
but the Germans have felicitously rendered it 
thus : 

" Donner und Blitzesschlag 
Luther ist all deine sprach." 

Perhaps if I here give what Professor 
Stowe says of Luther's preaching, the Eng- 
lish reader will understand why it was that 



104 THE VALUE OF AN 

men declared—^' Luther ! thy language is all 
thunder!^' which is about the meaning of 
this poetic sentence. '' The German style of 
Luther is wonderfully idiomatic, pointed, 
piercing, and full of speaking pictures." 
And this applies especially to his preaching. 
''There is no work of labor in it ; it is visibly 
a mighty mind and a great heart overflowing 
like Niagara. His sentences are like full 
charges of canister shot: they hit in all 
directions, they hit every where, and they hit 
all the time. It is in his native German, the 
German of his own creation, that his full 
power is seen, and never out of it. 

As a revolutionary orator, Luther was irre- 
sistible. So much coolness and so much 
fire, so much self-possession and so much 
excitability, so much logical power and so 
much exuberance of fancy, so much good 
sense and such ready wit, with such advan- 
tages of person and voice, have seldom, if 
ever, been found united in one individual. 
Conceive of the steady, flaming, religious 
fervor of George Whitefield, united with the 
perspicuity to seize, and the genius to repro- 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 105 

duce, every phase and fleeting form of human 
character, — the skill to touch, by the right 
word and the right metaphor, in exactly the 
right place, every chord of popular em-otion, — 
which characterizes Shakspeare ; all this set 
off by a muscular frame of fine proportion 
and manly strength, a fair, glowing face, 
which portrayed every sentiment before it 
was uttered, — a large, clear, blue eye, that 
radiated his very soul (and such a soul), — a 
voice powerful as thunder and musical as an 
organ — and you have some idea of what 
'Luther was as a public speaker. Such was 
the power and flexibility of his voice that 
even in his old age he sang the alto to the 
delight of all who heard him.'' Bib. Rep. 
for 1844, p. 146. It was such preaching 
that produced the Reformation ; for it was a 
principal point with the leaders of that great 
moral revolution to have the Gospel preached 
every where in its plainness, simplicity and 
power. This gave them a great superiorty 
over the Papists, who were no preachers. 

I dare not, in the short compass of this 
little volume, enter at any length into this 
10 



106 THE VALUE OF AN 

subject; nor indeed is it necessary. Every 
person at all acquainted with the history of 
religion knows that the chief instrumentality 
for its promotion ever has been the preaching 
of the Gospel. Our Luthers, Melancthons, 
Zwingles, Calvins and Knoxes, of Reforma- 
tion times; and our Speners, Franckes, Bax- 
ters, Wesleys and Whitefields, of later days, 
were all eminent preachers. What influence 
was so mighty in the revival of true religion 
in the eighteenth century, in England and 
America, as the preaching of such men as 
Wesley and Whitefield, and of others whose 
souls were set on fire by their eloquence ? 
Their writings did something; but without 
the power of the voice of the living teacher 
little could have been effected. ''There is 
no more impressive illustration," says Dr. 
Spring, "of the power of the living teacher, 
than that which results from a comparison of 
the printed and uttered discourses of the most 
powerful preachers. When you read the 
discourses of Whitefield, you can scarcely be 
persuaded that he was the prince of preach- 
ers ; and that the author of those printed pages 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 107 

was the man who collected 20,000 hearers 
on the open field at Leeds ; who fascinated 
all ranks of society ; who held Hume in pro- 
found admiration ; and who brought the infi- 
del Chesterfield to his feet, with outstretched 
arms, to rescue the wanderer from the fold of 
God, whom the preacher represented in the 
act of falling over the precipice. You read 
his sermons, but the preacher is not there. 
That glance of his piercing eye, that hushed 
thousands to silence in the open field, is not 
there. That voice, at a single intonation of 
w^hich a whole audience has been known to 
burst into tears, is not there. That instant 
communication between the living speaker 
and his hearers, which creates so powerful a 
sympathy, is not there." Power of the Pul- 
pitj page 16. 

And so in our own country, the great 
means by which the churches have been 
planted, enlarged and edified, and religion 
revived, spread and defended, has been the 
faithful preaching of the Gospel. Our Brain- 
erds and Tennents, Muhlenbergs and Hel- 
muths, Edwardses and Pavieses, Dwights . 



108 THE VALUE OF AN 

and Masons, were all distinguished and pow- 
erful preachers. 

Especially is the history of revivals of 
religion identified with the faithful preaching 
of the Gospel. Where has there ever been 
a genuine revival, of any great extent and 
power, from the day of Pentecost to the 
present time, which has not been mainly 
produced or promoted by the preaching of 
the Gospel? I know that the use of other 
means has been blessed, but it has ahiiost 
always been under the direction of and in 
connection with the living ministry. So 
fixed and settled has the conviction of the 
church become on this subject, that it seems 
absurd to talk about or hope for a revival of 
religion without the faithful and persevering 
exhibition of divine truth from, the sacred 
desk. We must, therefore, either have a 
living ministry, and that a ministry of the 
right kind, or enjoy no more revivals in the 
churches. 

It is to the ministry, too, that, as Chris- 
tians, most men owe their all. How have 
we been led to Christ? Has it not been the 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 109 

voice of the living minister that arrested our 
attention in the downward course of sin and 
folly, convinced us of our guilt and danger, 
and pointed us to "the'Lamb of God which 
taketh away the sin of the world?" In times 
of temptation and trial how have we been 
rescued? — in seasons of coldness and back- 
sliding, how awakened and quickened? — in 
darkness and ignorance, how instructed and 
enlightened ? — in sorrow, comforted ? — when 
weak, how strengthened ? — and when spirit- 
ually weary, hungry and faint, how have 
we been encouraged, fed and established ? 
How, but by the instructions, admonitions 
and warnings of the faithful ministers of 
Christ? Other means may have been greatly 
blessed to our good, but in the great majority 
of cases the preaching of the Gospel has been 
the chief and most important. As then w^e 
value these blessings, and value the present 
and future salvation of our souls, let us learn 
to place a proper estimate upon that institu- 
tion of God to which we owe so much. 
And as one soul is worth more than all the 
world besides, who can calculate the value 



110 THE VALUE OF AN 

of that instrumentality by which mostly souls 
are rescued from death and hell, are made 
savingly acquainted with Jesus Christ, and 
are fitted for eternal glory ! May God enable 
the reader properly to consider these things, 
and incline his heart to the faithful discharge 
of the duties which he owes to the living 
ministrv. 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 11 1 



CHAPTER III. 

THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN REGARD TO 
THE MINISTRY. 

This duty is two-fold: first, properly to 
appreciate and adequately to support the 
ministers whose self-denying and faithful 
labors the churches now enjoy; and secondly, 
to see to it that this country and the world 
be fully supplied with the right kind of a 
ministry. 

An evangelical ministry is eminently worthy 
of support. The pulpit is not indebted to 
the people ; but the church and the whole 
country is indebted, immensely indebted, to 
the pulpit. If it cost ten times as much to 
sustain it as it does, the people would still 
be in its debt. If the preceding discussion 
has not made this clear, then I do not see 
how any thing can be made clear. And, 
therefore, standing upon this vantage-ground, 
this mount of truth, I want to say to the 
church and the people w^ho enjoy the labors 



112 THE VALUE OF AN 

of faithful ministers of Christ, most emphati- 
cally and pointedly, pay your debts ! Pay 
the pulpit what you owe it, or you are dishon- 
est men ! Your ministers are not beofijrars — 
they ask not charity at your hands — pay them 
for their labor, for you are in their debt 
more than you ever can pay. I ask the 
reader to look again at the pecuniary value 
of the ministry — at its value as a means oi 
civilization and refinement — as a means of 
education — at its national and religious value ; 
and at every point I would say to him, pay 
your debts ! pay your debts ! Pay these 
men at least in some degree proportionate to 
the worth of their services. In their name 
I spurn with indignation the idea that they 
are a burden upon the community. I say 
again they are not beggars, but benefactors 
in the highest and most enlarged sense. 
They come not to impoverish, but to enrich; 
not to receive, but to scatter blessings broad- 
cast over the land. With Paul they can 
nearly all say, '' Poor, yet making many 
rich.'^ No class of citizens contribute so 

much to the general good of society — its 
10* 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 113 

prosperity and wealth — and all its highest 
and best interests. In fact it is a pure Gos- 
pel faithfully preached that has elevated our 
nation to what it is, and it alone can sustain 
it and raise it to still greater glory. I wish 
the reader then distinctly to understand that 
he is as much bound to aid in sustaining the 
Gospel that is preached in his neighborhood 
as to pay any other honest debts. And he 
is bound to give, not a dollar or two, just to 
ease his conscience and get rid of those who 
may have called on him, but he ought to pay 
in proportion to his means, and to the amount 
of labor performed and benefit received. 
Most men give too little in support of the 
Gospel — in fact the great majority in some 
churches pay almost nothing — make it a mere 
'' fippennybit business." I know hundreds 
of men, who are the owners of lands and 
houses, who are not ashamed to have their 
minister labor for them and their families the 
whole year for a dollar or two, and some even 
less ! Others think they are doing well if 
they give five or ten dollars, when, in view 
of the labor performed and the advantages 



114 THE VALUE OF AN 

derived, they ought to pay forty or fifty. I 
know a pastoral charge in which a faithful 
minister preached to four congregations, con- 
taining together about ojie thousand members 
of the church, many of whom were wealthy, 
and they gave him on an average a little more 
than ffty cents a piece ! I knew another 
man who labored most devotedly for seven 
churches, including a considerable member- 
ship, and in as beautiful and rich a country 
as the sun shines upon, who had to ask and 
receive aid from the Missionary Society, and 
if his wife had not kept a boarding house to 
sustain the family, they would have had to 
beg! But I will not multiply examples, 
though they are at hand in any number, for 
such things are common^ especially in the 
country. What I have to say in regard to 
all such churches and professed Christians is, 
that they are dishonest in the sight of God 
and man. They wickedly withhold from the 
laborer his hire. If they had refused to pay 
the man who plows their fields or reaps 
their harvests, they would have been dis- 
graced and perhaps '' sued at the law;'' but 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 115 

because it is only their indebtedness to God's 
minister that they would not pay, they pass 
for good Christians ! Now I do not ask that 
ministers should '^live upon the fat of the 
land," or be made rich ; but I do contend 
that it is a most just and righteous debt, that 
the people among whom they labor owe it 
them, that they and their families should not 
only be placed above want, but be made 
comfortable, so that they may be free from 
anxiety and "give themselves wholly to the 
work," and that they be not in their old days 
cast penniless upon the cold charities of 
a degenerate world. And I contend for 
another thing ; and that is, that what a man 
pays toward the salary of his minister he has 
no right to put down as charity or under the 
head of his contributions to benevolence. 
Many persons regard it as so much given 
away or bestowed, it may be, upon a worthy 
object ! Now I would ask such men whether 
they pay their blacksmith and shoemaker, 
and whether they regard that as a benevolent 
contribution ? And yet I greatly doubt 
whether even your blacksmith has labored as 



116 THE VALUE OF AN 

hard and earned his wages as dearly as your 
minister, and yet yoii would put down his 
salary under the head of benevolence ! 
what a shame ! How can that be benevo- 
lence for which you have value, and value 
ten times told? No man is so worthy of 
support, as we have seen, as the faithful 
minister, and certainly no man, not even the 
most laborious mechanic or day laborer, more 
dearly earns his wages. His is a most anx- 
ious, responsible and arduous work and office. 
If he properly attends to it, he has not a 
single unemployed hour, and eats no idle 
bread. But early and late, on the Sabbath 
and in the week, in his study and in the pul- 
pit, in the Sunday school and the catecheti- 
cal class, in the social meeting and from 
house to house, in the chamber of sickness 
and affliction, and at the dying bed and the 
funeral, he has ahvays work. The appropri- 
ate duties of his office require all his time, 
talents and energies. He devotes himself 
wholly to the cause and to the best interests 
of his people, and it is cruel, it is wicked, 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 117 

when that which is due him is withheld or 
doled out as if it were a charity. 

Recently a statement went the rounds of 
the papers, in which it was estimated that 
the united salaries of all the ministers of the 
Gospel in the United States amounted to 
about six millions of dollars a year. Whether 
this estimate is true or false, I do not know ; 
but taking it for the present as something 
near the truth, I wish to place a few other 
facts by the side of it. "According to Liv- 
ingston's Law Ledger for 1852, our country 
has 25,000 Lawyers, whose annual income 
is not far from $36,000,000 !" If then the 
salaries of the ministers of the United States 
annually amount to six millions of dollars, 
those of the lawyers amount to thirty-six 
millions ! After perusing this little volume, 
I will leave the reader to decide for himself 
which of these two classes of men is worth 
most to the people of this country. Or let 
me submit another fact. "It is admitted 
that; over $1,000 worth of tobacco is con- 
sumed daily in the city of New York — about 
half a million per annum in that city alone — 
11 



118 THE VALUE OF AN 

and all the land bears a due proportion to 
New York in this thing. If so, the people 
of the United States consume daily near 
$50,000 in tobacco — or the enormous sum 
of about $18,000,000 a year!'' Their min- 
istry of all denominations costs them six 
millions of dollars, and their tobacco eighteen 
millions ! The former they pay to have the 
Gospel preached to them and their souls 
saved — to have Christianity, virtue, morality, 
law, order, and every thing which is good, 
sustained among them ; the latter they pay 
that they may chew and spit, and smoke and 
puff, and snuff! And of this vast consump- 
tion of a costly, offensive, poisonous drug — 
unnecessary and often directly and positively 
hurtful — professing Christians use a full pro- 
portion according to numbers. There are 
vast multitudes, who fail to give a dollar or 
two a year to their minister or to the cause 
of Christ, who pay ten, tioenty^ or even fifty 
dollars a year for tobacco ! 

Or let us look a moment at the consump- 
tion of alcoholic drinks. I know a commu- 
nity of 6,000 people, noted for its moral and 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 119 

temperate habits. And yet from the number 
of taverns and other places where liquor is 
sold in that town, and a personal knowledge 
of some facts, I am sure that it is a very low 
estimate when I set down the amount used 
there at an average of ^30 for every day in 
the year, or about ^11,000 annually. In 
this I do not include the wholesale business 
of the place, for there are several wholesale 
establishments in the town which sell a much 
larger quantity ; but as this is not consumed 
in the place, I do not take it into my esti- 
mate. Now at this rate there is consumed 
in the United States from forty-five to fifty 
millions of dollars worth of strong drink 
annually. I feel certain that this estimate is 
too low, probably by nearly one half. It 
does not include the cost of the crime, pauper- 
ism, destruction of property, and loss of labor 
occasioned by intemperance : if this could be 
ascertained and added, it would probably 
amount to the startling sum of several hun- 
dred millions of dollars per annum! But if 
we adhere to the moderate estimate which I 
have made, it will appear that Mobile the 



120 THE VALUE OF AN 

people of this country pay six millions of 
dollars a year for the preaching of that Gos- 
pel which saves them, they p^y Jlfty millions 
for that which goes directly to destroy them 
in body and soul. 

These facts I think entirely ''use up '' the 
objection to the ministry on the score of ex- 
pensiveness, and put to shame those who 
make it. It is my deliberate conviction that 
there is no class of American citizens so 
poorly paid as evangelical clergymen, in pro- 
portion to the amount of labor performed and 
the value of those labors. At the same time 
the Bible is very clear and full as to the duty 
of the church to support the ministry. Pass- 
ing by what is said on this subject in the 
Scriptures of the Old Testament, and the 
provision which God made for the support of 
the priesthood in the Jewish dispensation, 
which was very ample, I need direct atten- 
tion only to a few plain passages in the New 
Testament, showing the duty of supporting 
the ministry which Jesus Christ appointed. 
Selecting men as his apostles who were 
destitute of wealth, or worldly means and 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 121 

influence, he gave them the solemn and 
responsible commission to " go into all the 
world and preach the Gospel to every crea- 
ture;" and he made no provision for their 
support, but expressly told them "the laborer 
is worthy of his hire.'' They were told that 
they must '^ forsake all and follow him " in 
this great work — that '' no man having put 
his hand to the plow, and looking back, is 
fit for the kingdom of God ; " and they could 
not therefore understand him in any other 
way than that they were to obtain a living 
from those to whom they preached the Gos- 
pel. Accordingly St. Paul reasons out the 
case in 2 Cor. 9 : 11-14. " If we have sown 
unto you spiritual things," says he, " is it 
a great thing if we shall reap your carnal 
things ? . . . Do ye not know that they 
which minister about holy things live of the 
things of the temple, and that they which 
wait at the altar are partakers with the altar ? 
Even so hath the Lord ordained that they 
which preach the Gospel should live of the 
Gospel." Hear him again in his Epistle to 
the Galatians 6:6. " Let him that is taught 
10* 



122 THE VALUE OF AN 

in the Word, communicate to him that teach- 
eth in all good things." And 1 Tim. 5 : 18, 
" For the Scripture saith, Thou shalt not 
muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn — 
and the laborer is worthy of his reward." 
Many other passages might be added, but it 
is not necessary. These, being plain and 
positive, are all-sufficient. As Christ has 
instituted the ministry, so it is his ordinance 
that the people to whom they preach should 
support them. They owe it to them as a 
debt, and they are guilty of resisting Godh 
ordinance and of defrauding men out of their 
hard earnings, when they withhhold a just 
and reasonable compensation. 

It is a subject of deep regret that so many 
professed Christians should so imperfectly 
understand the value of an evangelical minis- 
try, and feel so little the weight and import- 
ance of the duty which they owe to these 
servants of Christ. I would earnestly com- 
mend to all the following strong and affec- 
tionate language of the apostle : '' And we 
beseech you, brethren, to know them which 
labor among you, and are over you in the 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 123 

-Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them 
very highly in love for their work's sake.'* 
1 Thess. 5 : 12, 13. Here two duties are 
enjoined upon those who enjoy the benefit of 
the labors of faithful ministers, namely, '' to 
know them" and '^ to esteem them very 
highly in love." 

1. They are to know them as the ambassa- 
dors of Christ. They come not in their own 
name, deliver not their own message, and 
transact not their ow^n business ; but they are 
sent from the court of heaven — ^they come in 
the name, deliver the message, and do the 
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are 
authorized to say with St. Paul: "Now then 
w^e are ambassadors for Christ, as though 
God did beseech you by us : we pray you in 
Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." 2 
Cor. 5 : 20. How the apostle here magni- 
fies the ministerial office I Consider the 
name ! '^ Ambassadors ! " An ambassa- 
dor is " a minister of the highest rank, em- 
ployed by one prince or state, at the court of 
another, to manage the public concerns of his 
own prince or state, and representing the 



124 THE VALUE OF AN 

power and dignity of his sovereign." Con- 
sider their rank and authority! "Ambassa- 
dors of Christ ! " they come in " Christ's 
STEAD ! " What an honor, what dignity and 
authority an ambassador of the United States 
has at a foreign court ! But ministers are 
ambassadors of Christ, " who is Lord of 
lords, and King of kings." They represent 
the power and dignity of their Sovereign ! 
They stand in the place of Christ, and speak 
in his name and by his authority, just as if 
he came himself! Theirs is, indeed, an office 
and a dignity which angels might covet. 
Consider their work ! God beseeches men 
by them, and they pray them in Christ's stead 
to be reconciled to God. what an office 
and what a work is not this ! How few per- 
sons properly understand or appreciate it ! 
If Christ were again to appear in our world, 
and in person preach his Gospel, most men, 
and especially Christians, would regard it a 
great privilege to be permitted to hear him. 
With what profound attention they would 
listen ! How they would hang upon his lips 
and drink in the words of wisdom and salva- 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 125 

tion ! How zealously and earnestly they 
would endeavor to reduce to practice what 
they should hear ! But people have the 
opportunity of hearing Christ's ambassadors, 
the messengers whom he has sent out, every 
Sabbath day; and yet how careless and indif- 
ferent are they not ! How low is the estimate 
which the majority put upon the labors of 
these men ! How lightly do they esteem the 
privilege of hearing the Gospel from their 
lips! How emphatically the words of Paul 
may be addressed to such : '' We beseech 
you, brethren, to know them which labor 
among you, and are over you in the Lord, 
and admonish you ! " Let us hear also what 
the Saviour himself says in regard to his min- 
isters : " He that receiveth you, receiveth me ; 
and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that 
sent me." " He that heareth you, heareth 
me ; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me ; 
and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that 
sent me." " Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
he that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiv- 
eth me ; and he that receiveth me, receiveth 



126 THE VALUE OF AN 

him that sent me." Matt. 10:40; Luke 
10:16; John 13:20. 

What a fearful thing then it is to despise, 
reject or refuse to hear a faithful minister ! 
It is the same as to despise, reject or refuse 
to hear Christ himself ! How will thousands 
of men answer it to God that they have 
treated his servants with such neglect and 
contempt, opposing them in their efforts to 
do good, and suffering every trifling excuse 
to keep them away from the sanctuary ! We 
are bound to hear the Gospel whenever we 
have an opportunity, not to oppose or gain- 
say, not to criticise or find fault ; but " to 
give the more earnest heed to the things 
which we have heard, lest at any time we 
should let them slip." We must receive the 
message as from God himself, no matter how 
sharply we may be rebuked, or how forcibly 
our sins may be set before us. For this is 
the minister's duty. To be faithful, he must 
do it. It is God that says to him : ^'Cry 
aloud, spare not; lift up thy voice like a 
trumpet, and show my people their trans- 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 127 

gression, and the house of Jacob their sins." 
Isa. 58 : 2. 

2. Again^ we are to ^' know " the ministers 
of Christ as men. For though they are the 
ambassadors of Christ, they are but men of 
'' like passions " with others. They are sub- 
ject to the same infirmities, and surrounded 
by the same difficulties, trials and temptations 
as other men. They "have this treasure in 
earthen vessels." Their office is indeed 
most exalted, but they are not angels who 
bear it. They must be good men, for Christ 
never calls and sends forth bad men ; but still 
they are only men, and therefore not infalli- 
ble — not raised above the powder of tempta- 
tion and sin. We must never expect abso- 
lute perfection from them, or we shall certain- 
ly be disappointed. Nor must we look for 
impossibilities ; some church members expect 
hnpossibilities from their ministers ! For 
instance, they expect an amount of labor 
which it is impossible for them to perform. 
I have no doubt that many of the most faith- 
ful and devoted ministers of the present day, 
w^ho die prematurely, are overtaxed, and fall 



128 THE VALUE OF AN 

martyrs to the amount of labor required of 
them. They are expected to preach two or 
three sermons every Sabbath, besides meeting 
with their Sunday school and catechetical 
class. Then in the week they have lectures 
and prayer-meetings, or some other service, 
for almost every evening ; and they must 
visit the sick and from house to house, bury 
the dead, and perform various other pastoral 
duties, besides preparing two or three ser- 
mons for the next Sabbath, and attending to 
the cares of their families. It is evident that 
such an amount of labor will kill any man in 
a few years even if he had an iron constitu- 
tion. The people ought to know their min- 
isters in this respect, and not impose unne- 
cessary burdens upon them. 

Another impossibility which is sometimes 
expected of ministers is, that they should 
know every thing. For instance, if any per- 
son is sick in the congregation, they are ex- 
pected to know it without being told of it or 
sent lor ! People always expect to send for 
the physician, w^hen they want him, because 
they have to pay him for his visits ; but the 



EVANGELICAL xMINISTRY. 129 

minister, whose services in times of sickness 
and affliction they get for nothing, they will 
not send for, and yet will blame him for not 
visiting them, though he may be entirely 
ignorant of their situation. Another impos- 
sibility expected of a minister is, that he 
should preach well two or three times on 
Sunday, without time to study during the 
w^eek, or a library of suitable books to aid 
him. If he is expected to be constantly on 
the run during the week, visiting every where 
and every body, how can he be prepared to 
preach on the next Sabbath? It is impossi- 
ble. And then most ministers are so poorly 
paid that they never have the means to buy 
even the most necessary books, and during 
their w^hole life time they never get together 
any thing of a library. Yet books are to a 
minister what tools are to a mechanic, he 
cannot w^ork w^ell without them. Congrega- 
tions would be infinitely the gainers by join- 
ing together and purchasing good libraries 
for their ministers : or, w^hat is still better, 
pay them such a salary that they might be 
12 



130 THE VALUE OF AN 

able to procure at any rate the most needful 
books. 

3. Again, the people should ''know" 
their minister in his rights. Every minister 
of Christ has certain inalienable rights, with 
which the people should not interfere. A 
few of these I will mention. First, his con- 
science is his own. If he be an enlightened 
and a good man, he is conscientious as to 
the doctrines which he preaches, the mea- 
sures which he adopts, and the manner in 
which he discharges all his official duties. 
He has made these things a matter of careful 
study and much prayer, and his views in 
regard to them are settled. He understands 
the solemnity and importance of his position 
much better than his people do. He knows 
that he ''watches for souls as one that must 
give account." Now there are many church 
members who are always ready to dictate to 
the minister, as to what and how he ought to 
preach, and what measures and plans he 
should adopt. They think they know better. 
But such people must be told to mind their 
own business. They are officious intermed- 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 131 

dlers, whose views are mostly one-sided and 
narrow-minded, and they cannot have in 
keeping the minister's conscience. Congie- 
gations, too, sometimes endeavor to fetter the 
conscience of their minister by demanding 
that on some subjects he shall not open his 
mouth at all, and on others he must preach 
so as to please them. On the subjects of 
temperance. Sabbath-breaking, licentious- 
ness, popular amusements, covetousness and 
the like, and in general the vices of the com- 
munity and the age, he must either keep 
silence, or treat them so delicately as to mean 
nothing and to effect nothing. If he does 
not yield to his censorious people in their 
unreasonable and ungodly demands, they are 
offended with him, and either forsake his 
ministry or dismiss him from their service ! 
Churches are perhaps seldom aware of the 
high-handed w^ickedness of which they are 
thus guilty. They do not consider that they 
are tampering wath the minister's conscience, 
and are endangering the salvation of his soul 
and of theirs, and that by this means they 
destroy entirely the scriptural character and 



132 THE VALUE OF AN 

moral power of the pulpit. If he yield to 
such a people, he will soon destroy himself 
and them. His conscience will become as 
elastic as India-rubber, he will be a miserable 
time-server, whose sermons have neither 
point nor power, and his people will quietly 
go to sleep in their sins only to wake in the 
regions of despair. I am at a loss for lan- 
guage sufficiently strong to express all I feel 
upon this subject. Many a minister has been 
thus destroyed. With the utmost grief and 
pain have I listened to the sermons of such 
men, falling upon the cold hearts of their 
sleepy hearers with as little power and effect 
as moon-beams upon a mountain of ice. 
may the thunders of heaven awaken such 
ministers and people, and the fire of God 
retouch their deadened consciences ! 

I would then have the people to understand 
that the minister's pulpit is his own, and that 
none of them has a right to usurp his place 
or to dictate to him here. When he stands 
in the sacred desk he ought to feel perfectly 
free and independent, and to deliver his mes- 
sage as accountable, not unto men, but unto 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 133 

God. Let him remember what God says to 
him : '' Son of man, I have made thee a 
watchman unto the house of Israel : therefore 
hear the word at my mouth, and give them 
warning from me. When I say unto the 
wicked, thou shalt surely die ; and thou giv- 
est him not warning, nor speakest to warn 
the wicked from his wicked way, to save his 
life ; the same wicked man shall die in his 
iniquity ; but his blood will I require at thine 
hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he 
turn not from his wickedness, nor from his 
wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity ; but 
thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, when 
a righteous man doth turn from his righteous- 
ness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stum- 
bling-block before him, he shall die : because 
thou hast not given him warning, he shall 
die in his sins, and his righteousness which 
he hath done shall not be remembered ; but 
his blood will I require at thine hand. Nev- 
ertheless, if thou warn the righteous man, 
that the righteous sin not, and he doth not 
sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; 
also thou hast delivered thy soul." Ezek. 
12* 



134 THE VALUE OF AN 

3 : 17-21. Here is the whole subject in a 
few sentences, and how awful is this language 
of the Almighty I ! it should send a thrill 
of horror through the unfaithful minister's 
soul, and cause the people, who have made 
him so, to tremble ! 

Another of the minister's rights, which the 
people should respect, is to govern the church. 
Every pastor is the bishop or overseer of his 
own flock, and the language of the Bible to 
him is, '' Take heed therefore unto thyself, 
and to all the flock over which the Holy 
Ghost hath made you overseer, to feed the 
church of God, which he hath purchased 
with his own blood." Acts 20:28. The 
minister then is the " overseer," bishop, or 
ruler of the flock. He is " over the people 
in the Lord;" and God's command to the 
members of the church is, '' Obey them that 
have the rule over you, and submit your- 
selves : for they watch for your souls, as they 
that must give account, that they may do it 
with joy, and not with grief: for that is un- 
profitable for you." Heb. 13 : 17. It is 
therefore clear that God has made it part of 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 135 

the minister's duty to govern the church ; not 
that he is to rule '^ with a rod of iron," or to 
" lord it over God's heritage ;" but he is to 
be ''over them in the Lord." He is the 
pastor and head of the flock, and his authority- 
should be respected. 

4. Once more, the people must '^ know " 
their ministers in their wants » They are 
7nen and have wants that must be supplied. 
And first, they have temporal or bodily wants. 
They cannot live upon the air, nor upon 
prayer, preaching and the word of God, 
They and their families must have bread to 
eat and raiment to put on. Some church 
members either cannot or will not understand 
this. They think it a pity '4hat in our day 
preachers have not Jacob's ladder, so that 
after preaching on Sunday they could go up 
to heaven on it, and stay until next Sunday, 
and then come down and preach and go up 
again ! " If this could be done, preachers 
could no doubt live without eating, and then 
it would not be necessary to give them any 
thing for their labors. But as long as they 
have bodily wants like other men, the people 



136 THE VALUE OF AN 

are bound to know them in these wants and 
supply them. As this subject has, however, 
already been fully presented, I need add 
nothing more here. 

In the second place, ministers have spirit- 
rial tcants in which the people must ''know" 
them. They have souls to be saved and a 
Christian life to maintain^ as well as their 
people. And as they are to be eminently 
pious, in advance of all their members, in 
holiness, faith, love, humility, zeal, and every 
Christian grace and virtue, they need all the 
assistance they can obtain, that they may 
^'grow in grace and in the knowledge of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Their 
trials and temptations, too, are numerous and 
often peculiar. Satan and the world will 
make them special objects of assault, be- 
cause if their piety can be injured, that of 
hundreds and even thousands of others will 
suffer in consequence. All the members of 
their churches, and the communities in W'hich 
they reside, w^ill feel the blighting effects. 
Our great adversary will therefore hurl his 
most fiery darts at the souls of ministers. 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 137 

Hence they have special need of the prayers 
and assistance of the pious. For the sake of 
their own souls and the piety of the churches 
over which they preside, they should be con- 
stantly remembered in the closet, at the fam- 
ily altar, and in the social prayer-meeting. 
Their pious members should be '^ Aarons and 
Hurs," not only to hold up their hands and 
encourage their hearts in their work, but to 
plead for their souls, for their growth in grace 
and advancement in the divine life. let 
them not forget how much their ministers 
need all the spiritual assistance which they 
can obtain, both for their advance in personal 
holiness and to qualify them for usefulness in 
their great work ! The people should be 
co-workers with their ministers, sympathize 
with them in all their trials and afflictions, 
cheerfully enter into their plans, and assist 
them in every possible way, that God may be 
glorified and his kingdom extended. 

5. Finally, the people are not only to 
"know" their ministers, but also to ^'esteem 
them very highly, in love for their work's 
sake." This suggests the true ground of a 



138 THE VALUE OF AN 

minister's popularity — the r 3i son why the 
people should love him. It is not because 
he is ^^ a very clever man," "a perfect gen- 
tleman," "a sociable companion;" nor yet 
because he is '^a fine speaker," and a very 
learned and eloquent preacher; not on these 
accounts, but ^'for his work's sake." He is 
engaged in the work of God — a great, bless- 
ed, glorious and most important work, and it 
is for his faithfulness in this that he is to be 
esteemed and loved. It is because he labors 
to honor God and save men's souls. And 
their love and esteem ought to be proportion- 
ate to his faithfulness. How different from 
this is the conduct of many professors of reli- 
gion ! They are always finding fault with 
their minister for his plain preaching; becom- 
ing offended with him for the very thing for 
which they ought to love and esteem him ! 
But this has ever been the case. The proph- 
ets and apostles of old were hated, impris- 
oned, and many of them put to death for 
their faithfulness. Jesus Christ, the divine 
Saviour, was ^' despised and rejected of 
men," and finally crucified between two 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 139 

thieves, for the very reason for which men 
should have loved and adored him. And he 
has plainly told us what we may expect : 
'' And ye shall be hated of all men for my 
name's sake ; but he that endureth to the end 
shall be saved. The disciple is not above 
his master, nor the servant above his lord. 
It is enough for the disciple that he be as his 
master, and the servant as his lord. If they 
have called the master of the house, Beelze- 
bub, how much more shall they call them of 
his household?" Mat. 10:24, 25. It is 
therefore not new, strange, or wonderful that 
a wicked world should now, as in former 
days, hate and persecute the ministers of 
Christ for their faithfulness : but that mem- 
bers of the church, professed Christians, 
should do so, is inexcusable wickedness, and 
gives the lie to their profession O ye hypo- 
crites! ye ''whited walls!" w^ho find fault 
with your minister for his plainness, and hate 
and persecute him because he is faithful to 
your souls and rebukes your sins, know ye 
not that in this ye are like the murderers of 
our Lord? If you had been in the crowd 



140 THE VALUE OF AN 

with your hearts as they now are, you would 
have joined in the shout of ''crucify him! 
crucify him!" Repent yourselves of this 
your wickedness, for Christ regards all you 
do to his ministers as done to himself. In- 
stead of hating, you are bound to " esteem 
these men very highly in love for their work's 
sake." 

I come now to consider the second part 
of the great duty of the church in regard to 
the ministry. It is to provide a ministry 
adequate in numbers and qualifications to the 
conversion of the world to Jesus Christ. If 
it be of such incalculable value, as appears 
from the foregoing discussion, then it must 
be matter of the very highest importance to 
all the best interests of this country and of 
all mankind, that a sufficient number of the 
right kind of ministers should be raised up 
to ''go into all the world and preach the 
Gospel to every creature." This I think 
has been established beyond dispute or cavil. 
With our country it is clearly a matter of life 
or death. This nation cannot exist without 
the influence of Christianity sustained and 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 141 

promoted by an evangelical ministry. We 
must have such a ministry, or be destroyed. 
Equally true is it that the whole world needs 
it. Idolatry and heathenism can never be 
destroyed, and mankind enlightened, elevated, 
sanctified and saved without it. And if our 
country and the world need such a ministry, 
how much more does the church need it ? It 
is her right arm, and without it she must soon 
be overcome and destroyed. All this has 
been presented at sufficient length, and I 
hope its truth and importance is felt and 
acknowledged. 

But who is to furnish such a ministry ? 
Not the world, not infidels, not the advocates 
of corrupt and false systems of religion, not 
the political authorities of the land. These 
neither can nor will do it. It is the business 
of the true church of Jesus Christ. She is 
responsible for the number and character of 
the ministry. God has intrusted to her the 
w^ork of evangelizing the world, and if there 
are not ministers enough to do this work, it 
is her fault — her sin and her loss ; and if the 
ministry is not of the right kind — not made 
13 



142 THE VALUE OF AN 

up of piouSj able, faithful, devoted men — she 
is to blame, and the Lord will reckon with 
her for it. Every member of the church, 
every pious man and woman in it, has to 
bear a part of this responsibility. It is a 
part of that stewardship of which each of us 
shall have to give an account. And what is 
more, we are responsible, too, for the/uturey 
for the ministry of the next generation. We 
often anxiously ask, what kind of a church, 
what kind of a ministry, will there be when 
we have left the stage of action ? Who will 
sit in the pews and stand in the pulpits of 
our churches when we, who now occupy 
them, are in our graves ? These are ques- 
tions of eternal importance, and yet the an- 
swer is at hand. The church of the next 
generation will be what we make it; for we 
have to a great extenf the making of it. We 
are now training it up. Its future members 
and ministers are now^ found in our Sabbath 
schools, and cluster around the fiiesides of 
our Christian families. Let Christian parents 
feel that part of the future church is in their 
01V71 house ! That the bright eyed boy whom 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 143 

they now dandle upon the knee, whose open- 
ing intellect they watch with so much pride 
and pleasure, and w^hose very soul their every 
word and action, look and gesture, are help- 
ing to mould, may be destined to be one of 
the future pastors of the church. what a 
responsibility there is here ! May God help 
the churches to feel it ! We are to furnish a 
ministry, adequate in numbers and qualifica- 
tions, for the conversion of the world, and 
that of the next generation will be what we 
make it. Now it is a most distressing fact 
that the church has come far, far short of her 
duty in this respect. Never yet has there 
been a ministry sufficient for the work of the 
church in any land upon the globe. It has 
generally been deficient in numbers, but still 
more in character and qualifications. Of 
course I do not here refer to the Romish 
priesthood or any other ministry of error — I 
am speaking of an evangelical ministry.. In 
some countries and ages Papal ecclesiastics 
have been almost as numerous as "the frogs 
of Egypt," and much more destructive. But 
a true ministry has ever been the great want 



144 THE VALUE OF AN 

of the world. It is so now. Neither our 
own country nor any other is sufRciently sup- 
plied with an evangelical ministry, to say 
nothing of heathen nations. 

First, I remark that our own country is 
very inadequately supplied with true minis- 
ters of Christ. It is estimated upon good 
authority that one half of the population of 
the United States is destitute of a regular 
ministry or attend upon a ministry of error. 
And what is really alarming upon this sub- 
ject, is the fact that, for a number of years, 
the ministry has not increased in proportion 
to our population, nor any thing like it. In- 
deed I have recently heard it asserted upon 
the authority of one who professed to have 
paid special attention to the subject, that for 
the last three years the number of ministers 
of all the evangelical denominations in this 
country had, on the whole, not increased at 
all! That we had no more now (1852) than 
we had three years ago, while at the same 
time our population was increasing at the 
rate of nearly a million and a quarter a year! 
What an alarming thought! Can it really be 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 145 

true that upon the whole the number of addi- 
tions to the ministry of all our evangelical 
churches has not been greater than the deaths, 
removals, &c. ? The bare statement ought to 
fall like a peal of thunder upon the churches. 
What is to become of us ? What standard 
will you raise up against that terrible flood of 
infidelity and irreligion w^hich is now setting 
in so strongly upon our land, if the number 
of faithful watchmen upon the walls of Zion 
be suffered to diminish ? I still hope that 
this is not so, though I am unable to contra- 
dict it. The fact, how^ever, that they have 
not increased in proportion to the increase of 
our population, is notorious. While in some 
of the older portions of the country there is a 
tolerable supply, it is well known that in 
many of the new states and territories the 
destitution is most lamentable. The facts 
brought to light by the explorations of home 
missionaries and the colporteurs of the Amer- 
ican Tract Society are startling ! "Notwith- 
standing the vigorous and praiseworthy efforts 
of our noble missionary institutions," says 
the author of " Home Evangelization," " the 
13* 



146 THE VALUE OF AIS 

fact stares us in the face, that an aggregate 
of not far from one-half of our entire popula- 
tion habitually neglect the sanctuary, or hear 
'another Gospel.' Even in our great cities, 
with their compact population, their able 
ministry, and their hundreds of places of 
public worship, this estimate would be found 
more favorable than the facts would warrant. 
And the mountainous regions, stretching down 
a thousand miles in the central portion'^of our 
country, as well as the more recently settled 
agricultural districts of the west and south- 
west, would present a darker picture 

An intelligent and careful survey of the field 
would show^ that multitudes of the people are 
not reached by the stated ministrations of 

God's word A region of country 

lying between the AUeghanies and the Ohio 
river, contains more than fifty counties, with 
an average population of some five thousand 
souls in each county, or about six to a square 
mile. . . There are not a dozen points in 
all this district where the Gospel is statedly 
preached each Sabbath by any one denomi- 
nation, and those who are favored with the 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 147 

Gospel rarely have it oftener than once a 
month ; while thousands remain from year to 
year without listening to the preached word. 
In one county, larger than the State of Rhode 
Island, the only preachers are two uneducated 
circuit-riders ! Another county has an equiv- 
alent to the time of two and a half ministers 
bestowed upon it. Other counties are equal- 
ly destitute, while some have a more adequate 
supply of preaching." And if this is true of 
the western part of one of the oldest States 
of the Union, what must be the destitution 
in the newly settled districts ? — of portions of 
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Ar- 
kansas, Texas, California and Oregon? 0! 
it is enough to sicken the heart to think of it. 
In fact the great mass of the poorer inhabit- 
ants of these immense countries, and those 
occupying the outposts and more thinly pop- 
ulated parts, are so destitute of the means of 
intellectual and moral cultivation as to excite 
the deepest commiseration. Now I ask w^hat 
is to become of these people, and of the mill- 
ions more which the tide of emigration is 
rolling into the new States and Territories ? 



148 THE VALUE OF AN 

Must they not have the Gospel — the Gospel 
preached by an evangelical ministry ? Can 
any thing else adequately and permanently 
supply their spiritual wants ? It is right to 
give them the Bible, establish Sunday schools 
among them, and send them the colporteur 
with his basket of tracts and good books ; 
but in the name of God I ask, will this sup- 
ply them ? Can they do without the living 
ministry of Christ's own appointment ? Most 
assuredly not. One has well said, " it was 
the error of Rome to send the priest without 
the Bible, let it not be ours to send the Bible 
without the minister of God.'' Both must 
go together. I believe that I am stating the 
sober truth when I declare that, to supply 
this country adequately with the ministry of 
the word, the entire number of evangelical 
ministers ought immediately to be doubled. 
I will now pass from this general survey 
to notice the condition and wants of our own 
church and the immigrant population. The 
Lutheran Church has an immense and most 
important home missionary field in the United 
States, greater, I think, than that of any other 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 149 

denomination of Christians, and at the same 
time we are the most destitute of a ministry. 
This results from the vast immigration of 
Lutherans into this country from Europe, 
and from the fact that they have come hither 
mostly destitute of the means of moral and 
intellectual cultivation. A very moderate 
estimate, collected in part from the statistical 
returns, puts down the immigrant population 
of our country from the Germanic States, 
including their immediate descendants, at 
3,000,000; and from Norway and Sweden at 
45,000. This was several years ago, and 
the number has since greatly increased, 
and if we add to it their more remote de- 
scendants, it will now amount to at least 
4,000,000. I have given some attention to 
this subject, and I am satisfied that there are 
in the United States Germans, Swedes, Nor- 
wegians and Danes, and their descendants, 
over four millions ; and at least two millions 
of this entire population have been and are 
nominally connected with the Lutheran 
Church. Says the author of " Home Evan- 
gelization," already quoted, " Incredulity on 



loO THE VALUE OF AN 

this subject would yield to faith, if the doubter 
would take his station on the wharves at 
New York, and witness the landing of jiving 
cargoes, as in one or two instances^ to the 
amount of 10,000 souls in two days ; or if he 
would ride on some of the immigrant trains 
of cars, or take a deck passage on some of 
the 1,300 steamboats that navigate our west- 
ern rivers ; or visit the thousands of settle- 
ments where the new settlers have built their 
cabins. A hundred German newspapers 
must have readers, and a thousand Roman 
Catholic priests must have tens of thousands 
of adherents," (though the majority of Ro- 
manists in this country are not Germans, 
but Irish and other foreigners.) " More 
than 2,000 Lutheran and German Reformed 
Churches" (the Lutheran Church alone has 
at the present time 2,000 congregations, and 
the German Reformed probably 800) ''in- 
dicate an immense population synipathiz- 
ing with the German symbols of faith. 
And how vast must be the population left to 
roam in neglect ! Our great cities swarm 
with churchless, Christless Europeans. Our 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 151 

kitchens are supplied with workwomen from 
Germany and Ireland. Our canals and rail- 
roads are Imed with the shanties of immigrant 
laborers. Our agricultural districts abound 
whh Prussian, Bavarian and Norwegian 
farmers. Western New York, Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, 
Indiana, Missouri — the great grain-growing 
districts of the country — are overrun with a 
German immigration ; while Maryland, the 
finest portion of Virginia, and parts of (the 
Carolinas,) Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana 
and Texas, have large settlemeats of these 
hardy sons of toil." And let me observe 
here, that this immigration, so far from dimin- 
ishing, is on the increase from year to year ; 
its resdess tide is rolling in upon our shores 
several hundred thousand immortal souls 
annually. There is every reason to believe 
that the future is destined to witness in this 
respect what the past has scarcely thought 
of. The present state of oppression of the 
masses in Europe, and the happy asylum 
which this country offers them, induces the 
belief that nothing will check or limit immi- 



152 THE VALUE OF AN 

gration into the United States but the inabil- 
ity of the people to get here, and the capacity 
of our country to receive them ! with 
what anxiety must every American heart 
beat as we behold these millions of Europe 
pouring in upon us! What is to become of 
theiUy and what is to become of us ? What 
is to be done? We cannot roll back this 
tide of immigration, or say to these millions, 
stay at home until you are all politically and 
morally qualified for our country and her in- 
stitutions, or until we are prepared to receive 
you. No, they are coming ! They are 
comrngjust as they are^ and, prepared or un- 
prepared, we must receive them ! The crisis 
is upon us, and we must meet it manfully, or 
perish in the conflict. Necessity is laid upon 
us. We owe these people a duty which we 
may not disregard. Who sends them hither.^ 
Why are they sent hither? Why were they 
not sent in such multitudes a hundred years 
ago'? Shall I try to answer these moment- 
ous inquiries ? Who sends them ? but that 
God whose is the sea and the dry land, and 
who has opened this asylum, this land of 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 153 

refuge for the oppressed of all nations. He, 
who led ''the Pilgrim Fathers" hither, and 
has made this nation what it is by the blessed 
influence of the religion of the Son of God, 
he is brinmnof them hither, and for the same 
purpose. The hand of Providence is in this 
thing, and we must be careful to see it, and 
act accordingly. Why are they sent hither?* 
Not, surely, that they should transplant upon 
our soil the infidelity of Europe — or establish 
here their several nationalities, as German, 
Irish, French, Spanish and others — or to be 
left in ignorance of the true character and 
without the control and influence of our civil 
and religious institutions, to desecrate our 
Sabbaths, convert our liberties into licentious- 
ness, trample upon every thing that we hold 
sacred, and thus bring ruin upon themselves 
and us ; not for such purposes has the provi- 
dence of God directed them hither. But that 
we should take them by the hand, and incor- 
porate them with ourselves ; look especially 
after their youth, bring them as soon as pos- 
sible under American influences, establish 
among them institutions of learning, in which 
14 



154 THE VALUE OF AN 

they can be fitted to stand on a perfect equal- 
ity with other American citizens ; provide for 
them an educated and holy ministry, and 
thus elevate, enlighten, sanctify and save 
them. Nor is it meant to be asserted or in- 
timated that many of these people are not 
enlightened and devoted Christians ; for the 
contrary is the fact. Multitudes of the best 
men and women in this country have come 
from beyond the Atlantic ; and I have no 
sympathy with that wholesale and sweeping 
language often used which classes all for- 
eigners with infidels and heathens. But still 
it is true that tens and hundreds of thousands 
of them need to be evangelized, and all of 
them need to be Americanized. We know 
under what influences they have lived in 
Europe, and only too many of them, alas ! 
show what they would do here if they had 
the power. Multitudes are infidels, and still 
greater multitudes are bigoted and blinded 
Romanists. It is plain that they must be 
educated in the principles of our government 
and laws, and the religion of the Bible, or 
they will certainly destroy us. Their evan- 
gelization and enlightenment is, therefore, a 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 155 

matter of life and death with us. We must 
conquer them by the peaceful doctrines of 
our Protestant Christianity and the equal 
laws of our happy Republic, or they wall 
conquer us. Jfow they and we may yet be 
saved — now the victory may yet be on the 
side of our country, of God and truth, but 
soon the opportunity w411 be lost for ever. 
One effort now is worth a thousand a few 
years hence, should their intellectual and 
moral wants now be neglected ; and as the 
churches now have the means, the wealth 
and ability to do all for them and others that 
is needed, if we will but arise and bestir our- 
selves, how powerful is the inducement to 
work now! This suggests the reason why 
they were not sent hither in such multitudes 
fifty or a hundred years ago. Neither the 
country nor the churches were then prepared 
to receive them. 

But the question still returns, what is to 
be done with these people and for them? 
^' Run to them, as they land upon our shores, 
with the tract and the good book, and espe- 
cially give them a Bible," says one ! '^ Hur- 



156 THE VALUE OF AN 

ry ! " says a man of the gown, '' for they will 
soon be gone ! Shoot them upon the wing, 
for a thousand of them would pass before I 
could go home and get my gown on ! " 
Well, is this all ? No, send after them the 
colporteur with his basket, and let him hunt 
them up in their cabins, and read to them, 
give books, and sing and pray with ihem. 
Good, good, all very good, as far as it goes ; 
but is it ENOUGH? Is this discharging our 
duty to them ? By no means ! There is a 
beggar at your door, hungry and in rags ; 
run, give him a piece of bread and an article 
of clothing to cover his shivering limbs, and 
then let him go! But is he provided for? 
Does he want nothing more ? Alas ! his 
condition is but little improved, and in a 
short time he may be worse off than he was 
before. No, no ; we have neglected our 
GREAT duty to these people as long as we 
have not provided for them permanently, I 
do not indeed conceive it necessary to put on 
our '^ gowns " in order to serve them; but 
w^e must provide for them a w^ell qualified 
and godly ministry in sufficient numbers to 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 157 

gather them all into Christian churches, and 
regularly to preach unto them '^ Christ and 
him crucified." We must provide for their 
Christian education ; their youth must be 
catechized; the sacraments of the church and 
all the means of grace administered among 
them ; and in short they must enjoy all the 
benefits of the labors of the Christian pastor 
permanently settled among them. An occa- 
sional visit from a minister, or a sermon once 
in four weeks^ as is the case when pastors 
have 4 or 6, or 8 or 10 churches to preach 
to, is not providing for them. It seems to 
me to be almost a mockery of their spiritual 
wants. It is as if people should be permitted 
to eat only once every two or three days, and 
then have to fast that long again. 

Now who is to care for the souls of these 
people, if we of the Lutheran Church do not?^ 
Other denominations may indeed aid. It is 
their duty to do all in their power to evangel- 
ize and save every class and portion of the 
American people ; but the German and Scan- 
dinavian fields and interest belong specially 
to the Lutheran Church. Here w^e have a 
14* 



158 THE VALUE OF AN 

special mission and a special work. Here is 
the population of our country which we are 
to Americanize, to enlighten, elevate, sanc- 
tify and save. We must furnish a ministry 
for them, and provide for their intellectual 
and moral wants. They are our brethren na- 
tionally, and a very large proportion of them 
our brethren in the faith. They have come 
from our own fiither-land ; they have the 
same name and history with ourselves, the 
same ecclesiastical home, confession of faith 
and system of doctrines. Our church had its 
origin among this people. It commenced 
with the Reformation in Germany, and the 
great majority of Lutherans in the United 
States are Germans and the descendants of 
Germans. Hence this is our field. It is 
evident, too, that God in his providence has 
thrown this work upon us — upon our very 
hearts and consciences. Look at the facts 
in the case. Our German forefathers first 
established our church in this country. They 
sent hither our first ministers and missiona- 
ries, and sustained them with their money. 
German piety, means and labor — toils, tears 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 159 

and sacrifices, laid the foundation of our Zion 
here — built our first churches, organized our 
first synods, and aided in the establishment 
of our institutions. Germany has all along 
been furnishing us with both men and means. 
We therefore owe a great debt to Germany. 
And now that our church is established here; 
that we have a name and a place in this 
country, men and means to do a great work 
for God — and that Germany is in part over- 
run by infidelity and wickedness, and our 
church there is in aflfliction, on account of 
political troubles and from other causes — now 
that same all- wise Providence is sending into 
our free and happy land these vast multi- 
tudes — these millions of the children of Ger- 
many — and for what purpose ? Certainly 
that we should take care of them, and pro- 
vide for their intellectual and spiritual wants; 
that we should now pay back what we owe 
them. Having sent his Joseph into the land 
first, God now sends Jacob and his hosts, 
that they should be fed and cared for spirit- 
ually. Can any thing be plainer than the 
voice of Providence here ? 



160 THE VALUE OF AN 

And let it further be considered that we 
can do for this people what no other de- 
nomination can. They have no preju- 
dices against us, as they have against other 
churches. On the contrary, the better sort 
among them are very strongly attached to 
the language and customs, the church and 
faith of their fathers, so that it is impossible 
for the English churches of this country to 
do much for them. They must lose their 
entire nationality, almost strike out of exist- 
tence their former life and early training and 
habits, and undergo a complete and unna- 
tural transformation, before they can be fully 
identified with any other than a Lutheran 
communion. But we have free access to 
them. We understand their language, man- 
ners, customs and modes of thought, and we 
can go in among them at once, without let or 
hindrance, and work for God. And are we 
not bound to take care of our own ? What 
does the Bible say? ''But if any provide 
not for his own, and especially for those of 
his own house, he hath denied the faith, and 
is worse than an infidel." 1 Tim. 5:8. 



EVANGELICAL MLNISTRY. 161 

And if to provide for the bodily wants of our 
own be such an important duty, how much 
more important must it be to provide for their 
souls ? Where will the responsibility and 
the blame rest, if these people are neglected 
and perish ? — become bad citizens and hasten 
the downfall and ruin of our country ? Cer- 
tainly the curse, like a bolt of heaven, must 
fall most heavily upon the Lutheran Church. 
We sometimes blame our fathers for not 
having done more to educate and enlighten 
our people, to provide them wdth an intelli- 
gent and pious ministry, and to establish and 
extend our church ; but they never had our 
means and facilities, nor was there such an 
amount of immigration into this country in 
their day as there is in ours. How much 
more will we be blamed by those who come 
after us, if w^e do not awake and bestir our- 
selves to do the work, the whole work which 
God has given us? 

And let me add here that this field to which 
I am directing attention is worth cultivating. 
It is rich in promise. These materials are 
not only very abundant, but also very valua- 



162 THE VALUE OF AN 

ble. I know, indeed, that some talk about 
the " dumb Dutch " with a sneer, and look 
upon Germans as an ignorant, stupid, plod- 
ding nation of people, who are hardly worth 
caring for. And it must be admitted that in 
this country education has been too much 
neglected among us. Comparatively few of 
our youth have enjoyed the advantages of a 
thorough literary education, or have found 
their way into the learned professions, or 
those stations of influence and trust, for which 
education alone can qualify men. And here 
let me raise a voice of admonition and warn- 
ing, and would to God it could be heard 
throughout the length and breadth of our 
Zion ! We must educate more, or the 
masses of our people will become mere 
^^ hewers of wood and drawers of water." 
Too many of our members, especially in 
farming communities, where a majority of 
our congregations is found, have been more 
concerned to obtain farms for their children, 
and to '' teach them how to raise fat oxen and 
drive big teams," than to have them educated. 
^But this is a degeneracy of the true German 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 163 

character. As a race of people, the Germans 
are the best educated and most intellectual 
upon the globe. I surely need not stop here 
to prove the capabilities and powers of the 
German mind. The world has too long 
felt the mighty influence. In native vigor 
and ability to rise to the highest intellectual 
eminence, the Germans and their descendants 
are unsurpassed, perhaps I might say un- 
equaled. And this is true not only of the 
learned men of the nation, the favored few, 
but of the mass of the people. There is no 
nation on the globe that is capable of rising 
higher or more rapidly. All their past his- 
tory proves this. No man could desire a 
more glorious and inviting field, or one that 
is richer in promise, than we have here. 
And "it is white unto the harvest" — yea, 
the harvest is perishing. The only question 
is, where are the reapers to thrust in the 
sickle, and how can it be most successfully 
gathered ? 

And who does not know that the Germans 
have the richest literature^ especially in the 
departments of theology, philosophy, history, 



164 THE VALUE OF AN 

and various others, that the world ever saw ? 
All nations, w^ho make any pretensions to 
learning, are at this time drinking from these 
fresh and copious fountains. How" much the 
periodical press and the book-makers of our 
ow^n country and of England are indebted to 
Germany, is know^n to all who are informed 
upon the subject. Many of the best w^orks 
now published in the United States, as w^ell 
as in Great Britain, and of the ablest articles 
in the Reviews of both these countries, are 
either mere translations from the German, or 
are mainly indebted to German research and 
learning for their contents. Many of the 
ablest English and American pulpits give 
utterance to German thoughts, often without 
knowing it, and almost always w^ithout 
acknowledgment. 

Now what I contend for is, that the Ger- 
man field and interest in America belong 
mainly to the Lutheran Church. This is the 
intellect which w^e are to educate and en- 
deavor to sanctify, and these immense stores 
of German literature are our inheritance. 
We are suffering ourselves to be robbed of 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 165 

these treasures, I know, and most deeply 
lament, but still they are ours. And the 
German mind is the same in America that it 
is in Europe, and is capable of the same 
things. We have intellectual power and 
wealth sufficient here to move the w^orld, if 
properly developed and directed. And sure- 
ly there is nothing in the institutions or char- 
acter of this country to dwarf the intellect, or 
prevent the German mind from being enlight- 
ened and elevated. On the contrary, our 
glorious liberties, sublime destiny, bracing 
atmosphere, lofty mountains, majestic rivers, 
extended plains, immense territories, and 
restless and exciting spirit of enterprise, must 
be calculated to fire and bring out every 
latent energy of the soul. Do any of us 
believe that the descendants of Germans in 
this country are capable of less than their 
fathers w^ere in Europe? — that the children 
of Luther can accomplish less here than they 
did there ? Surely not. But if the contrary 
be our faith and feeling, then w^hat is our 
work, our duty, our inheritance? Shall w^e 
not educate this mind — develop and sanctify 
15 



166 THE VALUE OF AN 

these powers of intellect — and bring out 
these treasures of literature ? Why should 
not the Lutheran Church take a high rank in 
the literature of this country, as in Germany 
she is at the head of the literature of the 
world ? Why should we not have such a 
literature of our own here — such institutions, 
and such scholars as we have there. Why 
should we not establish seminaries and uni- 
versities here equal to those of Germany? 
Does any one reply that it requires time to 
do such great things? I grant it. But 
must not a beginning be made, and is it not 
time to begin 7 Is it not time that we should 
awake to a consciousness of our strength, 
our duty, our mission in this country, and 
exercising a proper forethought, should devise 
plans, lay the foundations, and begin to build 
for the future? To do this w^hile we may — 
before, by our miserable neglect and tardi- 
ness, we suffer others to despoil us entirely 
of our inheritance ? One of the greatest diffi- 
culties in our way is, that so many of our 
ministers and people have so little conscious- 
ness of our strength or our work — have such 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 167 

a contracted field of vision — lay no large 
plans, and undertake no great enterprises. 
They are satisfied with little things, or with 
nothing ! Would to God I could wTite some- 
thing that would tend to enlarge the intel- 
lectual vision of our men — that would induce 
our church to shake off her '^ swaddling 
bands," and arise to a consciousness of her 
maturity, her strength and her dignity! 
let us consider the importance of occupying 
our own ground! — of bringing out and using 
for our own benefit and advantage the in- 
valuable treasures of learning which our 
church in Europe possesses ! 0, it is humil- 
iating that we, who have such an inheritance, 
who have so much io give , should be depend- 
ent on others and go a begging ! '^In liter- 
ary and theological institutions, in learned 
theologians, and in a rich and learned theo- 
logical literature," says Dr. S. S. Schmucker, 
" the Lutheran Church has confessedly sur- 
passed all others." There are more great 
and distinguished scholars among the Ger- 
mans, and they publish more books, and 
have a more profound and varied literature 



168 THE VALUE OF AN 

than any people now living. There are no 
institutions in the world equal to some of the 
German Universities, which is sufficiently 
attested by the fact that many of the greatest 
men from this and other countries resort to 
them to complete their education. And this 
is the people and this the literature which is 
now being so copiously transplanted to our 
country; and this is our inheritance and our 
field of operations. is it not most valua- 
ble ! True, some of this learning is unsanc- 
tified, is infidel — some of this material is bad^ 
almost as bad as it can be ; but then it is 
capable of being sanctified. It belongs to the 
church, and she not only has a right to use 
it, but it is her sacred duty to do so for the 
spread and firm establishment of the Redeem- 
er's kingdom. The case is a plain one. If 
you suffer vital piety to decline amongst a 
people, substitute rationalism for the Gospel 
of Christ, and give them an infidel and world- 
ly ministry, they will go to the devil with all 
their learning, as a matter of course. But 
this does not prove that they are incapable of 
any thing better, or that their literature may 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 169 

not be used to the advantage and extension 
of true religion. Christianity is the eternal 
truth of God, and it is her duty to seize upon 
these immense stores of German learning and 
appropriate them to her own use. 

And this leads me to another point — it is 
the exalted and sterling character of German 
piety. This gives great value and import- 
ance to the German field and interest. And 
here allow me to say that German piety is no 
less genuine and eminent than German liter- 
ature. Indeed I believe that the moral pow- 
er, the power of faith, prayer, holiness, zeal 
and self-denial, among German Christians, 
when properly brought out, is greater even 
than the intellectual. It is eminently apos- 
tolic and martyr-like. I know, indeed, that 
some ignorant people speak contemptibly of 
German piety, and on account of the bad 
specimens which they have seen, and the sad 
prevalence of infidelity in Germany during 
the last half century, are ready to conclude 
that there is no such thing as vital godliness 
among Germans, and that there never has 
been ! Hence even the Reformation has 
15* 



170 THE VALUE OF AN 

been spoken of as rather a political move- 
mentj or a change in the externals of religion, 
than a revival of ofenuine relio:ion ! But such 
stupidity is rather to be pitied, than formally 
to be refuted. On the contrary, I ask, where 
has faith ever been stronger; piety deeper or 
more sincere ; devotedness and self-sacrifice 
in the cause of Christ more disinterested and 
entire; labor and toils more abundant, perse- 
vering and successful ; prayer more prevail- 
ing, and zeal more ardent and god-like, than 
among German Christians ? Among what 
degraded people of the globe have not some 
of these men labored and wept? On what 
frozen shores or burning plains have they 
not endeavored to plant the cross? In the 
sun and winds of what lands are not their 
bones bleaching ? The books which German 
piety has written, the institutions which it 
has founded, and the sacrifices which it has 
made for the redemption and elevation of the 
human race, have never been surpassed. 
Who were such Reformers as Luther and 
Melanchthon ? Who did more by their writ- 
ings and efforts for the promotion and spread 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 171 

of vital piety than Arndt, Spenei and Franke? 
We ourselves are the children of the orphan- 
house at Halle, and its influence will be felt 
to the end of time. And where have there 
ever been greater and more apostolic mission- 
aries than among the Germans ? Need I do 
more than mention the names of some of 
them ? — a Zeigenbalg, a Schwartz, a Rhen- 
ius, a GutzlafF, a Count Zinzendorf and the 
Moravians — a Muhlenberg, a Helmuth, and 
the fathers of our own church in this country. 
Has the world ever seen more of the power 
of real faith and piety than in the example of 
these men ? Where did Wesley, the great 
founder of the Methodist Church, obtain clear 
views of the real nature of conversion and of 
justification by faith, but from the Moravians 
who crossed the Atlantic in the same vessel 
with him, and from the writings of Luther, 
and especially his Preface to the Epistle to 
the Romans ? Have not in fact all Protest- 
ants been compelled originally to light their 
torches at Lutheran altars? 

Now I ask have we not this same moral 
power in our church in this country? — or 



172 THE VALUE OF AN 

rather is not our church here capable of the 
same things? Are not our people descended 
from these noble ancesters, and has not the 
mantle of the fathers fallen upon some of 
them ? I contend that we yet have the ele- 
ments of the same moral power — that the 
Lutheran Church has not lost all the spirit of 
its former days of glory, but that our people 
are yet capable of the same things ; yea, and 
of much greater things than have ever yet 
been achieved among us. All that is neces- 
sary is, that this power be properly devel- 
oped — that they be furnished with the right 
kind of a ministry in sufficient numbers, and 
the means of religious and moral cultivation, 
to supply their spiritual wants. 

But this is the difficulty. We never have 
been adequately supplied with faithful minis- 
ters of Christ in this country. We are not 
now more than half supplied. We have in 
the United States a Lutheran population of 
at least two millions of souls, with a member- 
ship of 200,000, and 2,000 congregations, 
while we have only about 800 ministers, less 
than 700 of w^hom are engaged in the active 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 173 

duties of the ministry ; so that we have nearly 
or quite three times as many churches as min- 
isters. Now to show how inadequate is 
this supply, I will refer to the statistics of 
some other denominations. Thus, for in- 
stance, the Episcopal Church, several years 
ago, reported 1200 churches and 1231 min- 
isters, more ministers than churches. In 
1850 the Dutch Reformed Church had 292 
churches and 293 ministers. The Presby- 
terians (Old School) in 1851 reported 1926 
ministers and 2595 churches ; and the New 
School, several years ago, had about 1500 
ministers and 1800 churches. The Congre- 
gationalists, several years ago, had 1150 
ministers and 1300 churches. The Method- 
ists, and Baptists too, as is known, are well 
supplied with ministers in proportion to the 
number of their churches. Now it is plain 
that to be as well furnished with ministers as 
any or all of these sister denominations, our 
number ought immediately to be doubled. 
We should have 1600 instead of 800. And 
how can we cope with these denominations, 
unless we speedily obtain this supply? And 



174 THE VALUE OF AN 

let it be observed that we need this increase 
in the number of our ministers to supply coii- 
gregations already organized^ without taking 
into the account our immense home mission- 
ary field. But it is well known that there 
are hundreds of places in the cities, towns 
and villages, of this vast country where we 
have members living, who are unprovided 
for, and where we could and should immedi- 
ately collect new congregations. Truly with 
us '4he harvest is plenteous, and the laborers 
are few; may the Lord send forth laborers 
into his harvest ! " 

But I must now also glance at W\e foreign 
missionary field, for the command of Christ 
is, ^'Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
Gospel to every creature." The work of 
missions had its origin in heaven. Its fires 
were kindled at the blaze of glory which 
surrounds the throne of God, and first burned 
in the bosom of our blessed Redeemer. Je- 
sus Christ himself was the first missionary. 
The world had revolted from God. '^ Dark- 
ness covered the earth, and gross darkness 
the people." Every moral beauty was de- 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 175 

faced — every flower of innocence faded — 
every star of hope quenched. Instead of the 
pure incense of devotion which ascended to 
the throne of the Ahnighty at creation's morn, 
and caused "the morning stars to sing to- 
gether, and all the sons of God to shout for 
joy," there now arose only the thick, dark, 
polluted vapors of sin and crime, accompa- 
nied by a mighty wail of woe from earth's 
wretched, fallen inhabitants. Heaven's com- 
passion was moved, and the question prompt- 
ed, What can, what shall be done for apostate 
man? Whose eye pities, and whose arm can 
bring deliverance ? Who will, who can go 
to earth with light, hope and salvation? 
Then the Son of God answered, " Lo, I 
come ! in the volume of the book it is written 
of me, I delight to do thy will, my God." 
And once more " the morning stars sang to- 
gether, and the sons of God shouted for joy." 
Angel bands heralded the Redeemer's advent 
into the world, and "Glory to God in the 
highest, peace on earth, and good will to 
man," echoed through the vaulted skies. 
" He who was rich for our sakes became 



176 THE VALUE OF AN 

poor, that we through his poverty might be 
made rich." Jesus, who is ''the brightness 
of the Father's glory, and the express image 
of his person," "who thought it not robbery 
to be equal with God, made himself of no 
reputation by assuming the form of a servant 
and becoming obedient unto death, even the 
death of the cross." By the sacrifice of him- 
self he redeemed the world and made salva- 
tion possible to all. And then, having fin- 
ished his work, opened the gates of Paradise, 
and kindled the missionary fires on earth, he 
again ascended to the throne of the Majesty 
on high, " where he ever liveth to make 
intercession for us." And as he was about 
to ascend, he gave his disciples this great 
commission: "As the Father hath sent me 
into the world, so send I you into the world. 
Go ye therefore into all the world, and preach 
the Gospel to every creature" — Go, publish 
the salvation which I have purchased with 
my blood to every human being — carry out 
the work which I have commenced. And 
then, being " baptized with the Holy Ghost 
and with fire," they went every where preach- 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 177 

ing '' Christ crucified." In a few years a 
thousand Christian altars were erected, upon 
which the missionary fires blazed brightly, 
and began to illuminate a darkened world. 
And if Christians, from that day to this, had 
continued to manifest the same zeal in this 
blessed work which the primitive disciples 
did, the knowledge of the Lord would long 
since have covered the whole earth. But 
alas ! alas ! what do we see? Eighteen hun- 
dred years have rolled around since the Sa- 
viour gave this great commission, and six 
hundred millions of our race, or more than 
two thirds of the whole human family, are yet 
enshrouded in heathenish darkness ! They 
are still as degraded, as ignorant, wretched 
and miserable, as if Christ had not come into 
the world to save sinners. Why is this so ? 
How does it come that salvation has not long 
since been published among all men ? But 
one answer can be given : Christians have 

NOT DONE THEIR DUTY. God's dcsign is 

that all nations should be brought to the 
knowledge of the truth ; the appointed means 
is the preaching of the Gospel, and preachers 
16 



178 THE VALUE OF AN 

must be sent. But the churches have failed 
to raise up and send forth the men. '' How 
shall they (the heathen) call on him in whom 
they have not believed? and how shall they 
believe in him of whom they have not heard? 
and how shall they hear without a preacher? 
and how shall they preach except they be 
sent?" Rom. 10: 14, 15. Here the whole 
matter is explained. ! how will we Chris- 
tians answer it to our Master, if we still ne- 
glect our duty in this respect? How fearfully 
does the blood of these perishing millions cry 
to God against us ? It is a most happy re- 
flection that in these latter days the spirit of 
missions has again manifested itself in the 
churches, and much has been done ; but still 
much more remains to be done. If the des- 
titution in our own country is still so great, 
as we have seen, what must it be in the 
heathen world ? It is estimated that there 
are only from 1000 to 1200 missionaries, 
from all Protestant churches and countries, 
at present laboring among the heathen ; less 
than two men to every million of souls; or as 
if in the whole United States we had only 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 179 

about 50 ministers of the Gospel of all evan- 
gelical denominations. How great therefore 
is the work yet to be done ! " Six hundred 
millions of the human race who want the 
Gospel," says .a spirited writer, '^ and less 
than twelve hundred missionaries to impart 
it to them ! Is it thus, ye disciples of 
Jesus, that you repay the debt of gratitude 
which you owe to your Redeemer, who gave 
himself for sinners ! He called you by his 
grace, delivered you from sin and hell, re- 
stored you to God, and inspired you with the 
blessed hope of everlasting life. Now he 
calls you to his service, and requires that 
henceforth you should live not to yourselves, 
but to him who loved you and gave himself 
for you, and washed you from your sins in 
his own blood. He confers upon you the 
singular honor, the high privilege of going 
as heralds before him into all the world, to 
proclaim his approaching reign, and call the 
nations to repentance. And is it so, that 
among the millions who bear the Saviour's 
name, less than twelve hundred can be found 
w^ho are willing to accept of this service ? It 



180 THE VALUE OF AN 

cannot be. There are, there must be thous- 
ands, in different parts of the Christian world, 
who are ready, whenever the churches shall 
call them forth, to embark for any part of the 
world to spend their lives in preaching the 
Gospel to the heathen — who are ready and 
willing to spend and be spent for the sake of 
him who loved them and gave himself for 
them." And will not the churches call these 
men forth ? Will they not at last be brought 
to their duty to seek out, educate and send 
forth an army of Christian soldiers sufficient 
in numbers and qualifications for the conver- 
sion of the world? Surely as the Spirit of 
Christ animates them more and more they 
will do this. It is thought that if 30,000 
missionaries could be raised up and sent out, 
properly distributed among the 600,000,000 
of heathens, it would be a tolerable supply, 
because w^ierever the Gospel is preached in 
its purity and its power experienced, native 
preachers can be educated on the spot to aid 
the missionaries, and ultimately to take the 
work off their hands. Thirty thousand mis- 
sionaries for the whole world would be giving 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 181 

one man to every 20,000 sculs; and though 
this in itself would be nothing like a supply, 
for the command is to preach the Gospel not 
to a few individuals in every nation, but to 
every creature^ yet as each of these men 
might be instrumental in raising up several 
native preachers, it would probably in another 
generation or tw^o result in a full supply. 
Here then is the work which the churches 
have to do for the foreign field. They have 
furnished about 1000 missionaries, and they 
must furnish 29,000 more, and they ought to 
do it immediately. This is a greater number 
probably than all the ministers of all the evan- 
gelical churches in the United States put to- 
gether; and added to the destitution at home, 
should rouse Christians of every name and 
denomination to put forth the most active, 
powerful and persevering efforts to supply 
this country and thfe whole world with minis- 
ters. And if the churches do their duty it 
CAN BE DONE. The men and the means to 
educate and send them forth can be found. 
O God! breathe upon thy churches, and 
induce them to obey the Saviour's last com- 
16* 



182 THE VALUE OF AN 

mand, and supply the world with the heralds 
of salvation. '' The harvest is plenteous, 
and the laborers are few; Lord send forth 
laborers into thy harvest! " 



CONCLUSION. 

The facts and arguments of this volume 
afford the ground of an earnest appeal to 
several classes of persons, whom I desire, in 
conclusion, affectionately to address. 

1. And first I appeal to ministers of the 
Gospel themselves. Consider, beloved breth- 
ren, the high and holy character of your 
office, and the solemn responsibilities which 
it imposes upon you ! Put a proper estimate 
upon it, and act worthy of ''the high voca- 
tion wherewith you are called." Much 
depends upon you. If you act unworthily, 
you will disgrace yourselves and the office, 
and greatly injure the cause of God. Not 
only strive with Paul ''to have always a 
conscience void of offence toward God and 
toward men," but also remember that you 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 183 

have a public character to maintain. Men 
will judge the office and the cause by you. 
It is in vain for you to complain that people 
do not properly appreciate your labors nor 
the dignity and value of your office, if in any 
thing you act in an undignified, unminis- 
terial way, and make yourselves unworthy of 
esteem. Said the dying Payson, ''Oh, if 
ministers only saw the inconceivable glory 
that is before them, and the preciousness of 
Christ, they would not be able to refrain from 
going about leaping and clapping their hands 
for joy, and exclaiming, Pm a minister of 
Christ! Pm a minister of Christ!" And 
so if they at all times properly considered the 
exalted and holy character of their office, and 
the fearful responsibilities which it involves, 
they would upon every approach of tempta- 
tion to sin, or any unworthy deed, shrink 
back with horror exclaiming, "we are minis- 
ters of Christ! we are ministers of Christ! 
how^ then can we do this great wickedness, 
and sin against God!" 

But I w^ould not only have you live and act 
in a manner worthy of your calling, and so as 



184 THE VALUE OF AN 

to commend yourselves to the hearts and 
consciences of men, and gain their esteem 
and affections, but preach to the people on 
the nature and duties of your office — show 
them its value and importance, and what is 
their duty in regard to it. Let there be no 
sickly delicacy or sinful modesty here. Do 
your duty. You are ministers of Christ. 
Stand forth in the conscious dignity and 
value of your office and work, and fearlessly 
declare ''the whole counsel of God" to the 
people upon this as well as all other subjects. 
Many otherwise most excellent and worthy 
ministers suffer themselves to be starved out 
by a penurious and ungrateful people, simply 
because they do not properly instruct them 
on this subject. This is all wrong. Such 
ministers are sinning against themselves, 
against the people, and against God, and if 
left to starve, they are but reaping the con- 
sequences of their own doings. 

You are also solemnly bound to aid to the 
utmost extent of your ability in providing the 
church and the world with the right kind of 
a ministry. Let the cries of the destitute 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 185 

and perishing continually ring in your ears. 
Preach on the subject. Seek out young men 
of suitable piety and talents for this work, 
and show them their duty, and induce your 
people to aid in their education and prepara- 
tion for this office, until the world is con- 
verted to Christ. 

2. Christians in general are bound to give 
earnest attention to this subject. You see, 
beloved, that the value of a true ministry is 
beyond all price or calculation. Put a just 
estimate upon it. Do your duty towards it. 
Support the men who minister to you in holy 
things in a manner corresponding with the 
value and importance of their work. You 
owe it to them. They are worthy of it. 
They dearly earn it, and you are greatly in 
their debt. So, too, you are bound to aid in 
building up and sustaining institutions of 
learning, and educating ministers, and send- 
ing out missionaries, much more liberally 
than you have ever done. The blood of 
destitute and perishing millions is crying to 
God against you. Your money and property 
belong to God ; he has only intrusted these 



186 THE VALUE OF AN 

things to you for a while as a loauj and says, 
" Occupy till I come." Soon he will come 
and demand an account of your stewardship. 
3. I must also appeal to parents to dedi- 
cate their sons to God in this great and im- 
portant work, and to educate them for it. 
Your children belong to God, and he "hath 
need of them." You 7mtst give them up to 
him and his service. No matter if it does 
require self-denial — you and they are com- 
manded to use self-denial. "Deny thyself, 
take up thy cross, and follow me," is the lan- 
guage of the Master. No matter if they can- 
not make as much money as if they were phys- 
icians, lawyers, merchants or farmers ; the 
Almighty did not send them into the world 
to make money, except in so far as they 
thereby glorify him. They were sent here 
to do good, to aid in building up the Re- 
deemer's kingdom, and saving the souls of 
men. If your children do make money, it 
may destroy them. Tens of thousands are 
cursed and damned by their money. " And 
w^hat is a man profited, if he shall gain the 
whole world and lose his own soul ? or what 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 187 

shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" 
If any of your children were instrumental in 
saving but one soul, it would be a much more 
great and glorious achievement than if they 
should amass millions upon millions of money, 
how can you withhold your children from 
God, when there is so much to do for his 
cause in this sinful world, and they and you 
will so soon go into eternity! 

4. Let me also appeal to Sunday school 
and other Christian teachers of youth. You, 
beloved teachers, can do much. You do 
greatly aid in moulding the hearts and minds 
of the dear children placed under your in- 
structions. labor to bring them to the 
Saviour. Tell them that he died for them, 
and that he requires them to give him their 
hearts and to devote their lives to him. Tell 
them of the destitute thousands in this coun- 
try, and the millions in heathen lands, and 
urge them to devote themselves to God in 
bearing the glorious message of salvation to 
the dying. Oh! if you should succeed in 
inducing but one of your children to become 
a faithful minister of Christ, what a great 



188 THE VALUE OF AN 

work you would perform! You would thus 
be setting in motion a train of influences by 
which thousands, and perhaps ultimately 
millions of souls might be converted to God. 
5. Finally, I appeal to young men, I have 
no doubt that there are scores and hundreds 
of young men of piety and talents, who have 
enjoyed the benefits of a liberal education, 
engaged in various secular employments, 
whose solemn duty it is, in view of the wants 
of the church and the world, to devote them- 
selves to God in the work of the ministry. 
Many who are now engaged as farmers, 
merchants, mechanics, physicians or lawyers, 
are called of God to forsake their present 
business and follow Christ. Still greater 
numbers, who have not yet obtained an edu- 
cation, are bound immediately to seek it, and 
prepare themselves to go forth as heralds of 
the cross. Remember, my young friends, 
that thirty thousand ministers are needed for 
the foreign field, and many thousands more 
for our own and other nominally Christian 
lands, and you are bound to help to furnish 
the supply. It must be so, if Christianity is 



EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 189 

to be propagated to the ends of the earth. 
As true as Christ has said, ''Go ye into all 
the world, and preach the Gospel to every 
creature," so true is it that thousands and 
even tens of thousands of the pious young 
men connected with the churches of the 
United States, are bound to hear the com- 
mand and "go.'' Who else is to go? The 
church must look to her pious young men for 
her future ministry. They are her hope, and 
the hope of a dying world. Dear reader! are 
you a young man? and does this matter not 
concern you ? Have you ever seriously in- 
quired whether God has not called you to 
the work of the ministry ? Where are you ? 
What are you doing? What do you intend 
to do? What kind of a call are you waiting 
for? Must God speak to you from heaven 
in thunder tones before you w^ill obey? Let 
me point you to the immense destitution in 
our own country — to the multitudes who are 
perishing ''for lack of knowledgej" in other 
lands — and to the six hundred millions of 
heathens who have never heard of Christ, 
and then say, have you no call to run to their 
17 



190 THE VALUE OF AN 

relief? Look to the cross of your Redeemer, 
as he hangs bleeding and dying for these 
very millions who are perishing without his 
salvation, and then think of death and the 
judgment, of heaven and hell, and of meeting 
these very souls at the bar of God, and say, 
have you no call? that the Lord may look 
upon you, as he did upon Peter, until your 
heart melt within you, and you exclaim. 
Here am I, blessed Jesus, send me! Amen. 



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Churches in the United States. 
GERMAN LITURGY, do. do. do. 

NEW ENG. LUTH. HYMN BOOK, 24mo.— small size. 

Do. do. do. 12mo. — large size. 
8vo. or extra large size, intended for the pulpit. 

ENG. LUTHERAN S. SCHOOL HYMN BOOK. 

*^*To induce the more extensive use of this Hymn 
Book among our Sunday Schools, the prices have been 
much reduced; and as there is no reason nov7 v^hy it 
should not be used altogether in our Sunday Schools (for 
the book is as well adapted for the purpose as any pub- 
lished in the country,) we trust our Superintendents and 
Teachers will make an effort to introduce it generally. 

GERMAN LUTHERAN HYMN BOOKS. 

EVANG. LIEDER-SAMMLUNG, (General Synod's,) 

24mo. 
EVANG. LUTH. KIRCHEN LIEDER, (published for 

the Pa. Synod,) 24mo. 

Do. do. do. do. 12mo. 

NEUES GEMEINSCHAFTLICHES GESANGBUCH, 

(New York,) 18mo. 

ENGLISH LUTHERAN CATECHISMS. 
LUTHER'S SHORTER CATECHISM, illustrated by 
additional Questions and Answers, by J. G. Morris, 
D.D., 18mo. 



LUTHER'S SiVIALLER (Gen. Synod's) CATECHISM, 

18mo. 
EASY CATECHISM, for Young Children and Sunday 

Schools, 32mo. A new and enlarged edition in press. 

GERMAN LUTHERAN CATECHISM. 
DR. LUTHER'S KLEINER CATECHtSMUS, (West 

Pa. Synod 's^) new and improved edition, containing 
the Formula of Discipline, Augsburg Confession, 
&c., 18mo. 



WHY ARE VOi; A LUTHERANS by B. Kuilz, DAJ.. 
12mo. 

LUTHERAX FAMILY PRAYER BOOK, with Hymi.> 
and Tunes, by B. Kurtz, D.D., large 12mo. 

POPULAR THEOLOGY, by S. S. Schmucker, D.D., 
I2mo. and 8vo. edition. 

THE AMERICAN LUTHERAN CHURCH, Histori- 
cally, Doctrinally, and Practically Delineated, in 
several occasional Discourses, by S. S. Schmucker, 
D.D., 12mo. 

SCHMUCKER ON REVELATlONS,2vols. in one, 8vo. 
Do. do. do. in German. 

TREATISE ON PRAYER, in all its Forms, and Train- 
ing up Children, by B. Kurtz, D.D., I8mo. 
\;^*This is Vol. I of the '-'■Lutheran Sunday Library.'^ 

now in course of publication. 

LIFE OF ARNDT, with a portrait, by J. G. Morris, 
D.D., I8nio., being Vol. II of the ^^Luth. Sunday 
Library,''' — in press. 

POPULAR EXPOSITION OF THE FOUR GOSPELS, 
by Drs. Morris and Smith, 2 vols. 12mo. (There are 
but few left of this book.) 

SEISS'S LECTURES ON THE HEBREWS, 8vo.— a 
very valuable work. 

SCHMUCKER ON THE REFORMATION, ISmo. 

SCHMUCKER'S PORTRAITURE OF LUTHERAN- 
ISM, 18mo. 

CHRISTIAN BAPTISM, and the Mod^^ by Lape, 18mo. 
Do. do. do. in German. 



THEOLOGICAL SKETCH BOOK, 2 vols. 8vo. 
YEAR BOOK OF THE REFORMATION, 8vo. 

*^* This work is illustrated with numerous cuts an 

fac similes of the hand-writing of the Reformers, printed 

from engravings expressly prepared in Europe for it at 

a cost of nearly $400. 

HAZELIUS' CHURCH HISTORY, vol. 1, 12mo. 

HUBNER'S BIBLE HISTORY, in German, l2mo. 

SEARS' LIFE OF LUTHER, 18 and 12mo. 

MEMOIR OF REV. WALTER GUNN, late mission- 
ary in India from the Evang. Luth. Church in the 
U. S., by G. A. Lintner, D.D., 18mo. 

THE UNALTERED AUGSBURG CONFESSION, 
and the Three Chief Symbols of the Christian 
Church, &c., by Rev. Christian Heinrich Schott. 

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FAITH OF ABEL, 
ENOCH, NOAH AND ABRAHAM, 18mo., by 
Rev. C. A. Smith, D.D. 

LUTHERAN ALMANAC, English. 

MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS. 
THE LIVES AND TIMES OF THE MOST DIS- 
TINGUISHED CHRISTIAN FATHERS, to the 

close of the 3d century, 8vo. — a valuable work. 

HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, from 
its institution to the 16th century, by Thomas Gail- 
lard, 8vo. 

JESUS' WITNESSES, or the «' Great Salvation" Ex- 
emplified, by Rev. Henry Doll, 12mo. 

THE YOUNG AMERICAN, or Book of Government 
and Law, for the use of Schools, by S. G. Goodrich, 
author of Peter Parley's Tales, with thirty-seven 
Engravings, l:2mo. 

THE LOOKING GLASS FOR THE MIND, or In- 
tellectual Mirror, being an elegant collection of the 
most delightful little Stories and interesting Tales 
for Children, with sixty-four Engravings, 18mo. 

BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, with Engrav- 
ings, 18mo. 

KEMPIS' CHRISTIAN'S PATTERN, by John Wes- 
ley, A.M., 32mo. 



DODDRIDGE'S RISE AND PROGRESS OF RE- 
LIGION IN THE SOUL, 32mo. 
THE WAY TO ATTAIN SELF-KNOWLEDGE, by 

John INIason, A.M., 32mo. 

DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES OF THE HEART, by 
Mrs. Elizabeth Fcowe, 32mo. 

THE MILLENNIUM OF THE CHURCH, 18mo. 

THE UNITED STATFS READER, or Juvenile In- 
structor, No. 1, 18rao. 
Do. do. uo. No. 2, 18mo. 
Do. do. do. No. 3, being- 
a selection of Lessons in Prose and Poetry, from 
the best American and English authors, 12mo. 

THE JUVENILE PRIMER, and Child's own Progrcs- 
Five Guide to Learning, l^mo., stiff paper cover. 



SCHOOL, FAMILY (4to) and PULPIT BIBLES, 
TESTAMENTS and HYMN BOOKS of various sizes 
and styles of binding. 

Also, a general assortment of SCHOOL, SUNDAY 
SCHOOL, CLASSICAL, THEOLOGICAL, JUVEN- 
ILE and MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS, for sale at the 
loiccst icholesale prices. 

BLANK ACCOUNT AND RECORD BOOKS of all 
kinds, of the best materials, made to order, and forward- 
ed to any part of the country. 

Printing, Vv'riting, Letter and Wrapping PAPERS, and 
STATIONERY generally. 

BOOK BINDING of every description neatly and 
promptly executed. 

Country Dealers, Teachers, and others, supplied upon 
the most favorable terms, and at the /oicesf rates. The 
high' -t market price paid for RAGS. 

C.ders for any article in the Book or Stationery Line tht 
market affords, icill he executed with promptness, and on the 
most liberal terms. 

rrj^ MASS. s. s. society's library books. 

A fully supply of these excellent publications always on 
hand and for sale at Catalogue prices. Also those of the 
AMER. S. S union. Orders promptly attended to 



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